Fake Romance
by money127
Summary: Natsume, fearing his grandmother, starts a fake relationship between himself and the two faced Mikan. Now, they live with each other, get to know each other and try not to kill each other. Finally complete! Stayed tuned for the sequel!
1. Chapter 1

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

**This is my first fanfic so please go easy on me. The first chapter might not be much but I'll try to improve as I go. **

**Criticize me if you want. I don't guarantee that I'll listen to your criticism but I will if I agree with your perspective. **

**Thank you for at least opening this fanfic. Enjoy!**

* * *

'Kya! Natsume-sama!" fan girls screamed as I drove my car past the gates of Gakuen Alice. They started screaming even more

when I went out of the car and took off my sun glasses. Another tiring day with fan girls following me. I started walking to the

school building. The school grounds are so big that it takes 10 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the school building. That's

not something a sane person like me would want to do first thing in the morning. I was thinking of going back into the car and

skipping school when I saw an angel. Her beautiful auburn hair flying in the wind, her lips curving into a smile, her eyes looking at…

her fan boys. "Sakura-san, did you sleep well last night?" "Sakura-san, would you like to have a date with me after school?"

"Sakura-san" "Sakura-san" the boys continued to shout as Sakura-san went closer to me. I continued to walk forward, like I didn't

care. Closer and closer and … the next thing I know I'm lying on the ground with a girl next to me. "Sakura-san, are you OK?" the

fan boys shouted. The girl, Sakura-san sat up, blood dripping slowly from her lips. "I'm fine." she smiled brightly. She touched her

lips and then… she started crying. "That was my first kiss." Wait. What!?!? THAT'S NOT EVEN A KISS!!!! "Natsume-kun…" I

could feel the killing aura from her fan boys. "How dare you." one of the boys was going to smack me. But I was calm. No one

beats me at fighting and I'm sure that this freak won't be the first one. "Wait." another fan boy screamed. "Now's not the time for

fighting. We must bring Sakura-san to the nurse." "Right" the whole group agreed. And they all carried Sakura-san to the nurse,

bridal style. One of the guys looked back at me "You're going to pay, Natsume." and ran away. Whatever. At least I got to kiss her.

I couldn't help but to smile. Yeah. I kissed her. I continued to walk towards the school building. Maybe staying at school won't be

that bad. Okay. Screw that last sentence. Biology is bad. I just can't concentrate when the teacher explains about reproductive

system while staring at me hungrily and apparently, I'm the only one with such problem.

Observation: My biology teacher drools over me.

Conclusion: Teachers who don't have husbands, like my Biology teacher are easily turned on by just looking at their hot student.

Conclusion #2: Hot students should not interact with such teachers.

Conclusion #3: I should not interact with such teachers.

I'll just sleep through this class… oh look. The class is over NOT!!! It has only been 2 minutes which means I'll have to wait 40

more.

Observation: I just did math in 10 seconds.

Conclusion: Math is much easier when you can't wait to finish it.

Conclusion #2: Jin Jin's classes will be the easiest to survive.

And then I realized something:

Observation: I'm writing random observations and conclusions in my biology notebook

Conclusion: Biology makes people write random stuff in their notebooks

Observation: I'm still continuing to write random stuff in my notebook

Conclusion: unless this class stops in 20 second, my whole Biology

notebook will be filled with random observations and conclusions.

Oh god. Save me. I promise you that I will only date 10 girls per day and I won't sneak out of the house 24/7 anymore (23/7 is OK).

Please! Just save me out of this class! Ouch! Who just threw chalk in my head? "Mr. Hyuga, I would suggest you pay attention in

my class instead of sleeping. Biology test is next week and I don't think you should take it lightly. This is a very important test. It is

worth 50% of your grade. If you don't score well on this test, your quarter grade will be very low and …" Bla bla bla. Shut up hag!

You think I care if I get a bad grade. Well I do care but it's not like I get bad grades if I don't study. I'm a natural genius, even

without studying, I'll still get an A. "I got it. I'll pay attention to your…" Ring ring ring. OH YEAH!!!! The class is over. I grabbed

my bag and went out of the classroom. Next is PE, my favorite class.

Man, I'm tired. Why must the school building be so high? You must be wondering where I, the one and only great and awesome

(maybe that's too much) Nasume Hyuga, am right now. Well to answer your question, I'm on the stairs of the school building,

trying to reach the roof top. PE just ended and what's a better place to rest then the roof top. Actually every other place as long as

you don't have to climb up. PE is tiring enough and now I have to run up to the roof top of the highest building in the neighborhood.

I was going to rest in the shades of the sakura trees in the forest (yep. My school has a forest. Jealous?). But my fan girls haven't

been spying on me for the past few weeks for nothing. They figured out my hiding spot and are waiting for me in there. They even

made sure that I'll have nowhere else to run, except the roof top. Finally I reached my destination. I opened the door that led to the

roof top and there I found the sky, the wind, the freedom and an angel sleeping on the floor, Sakura-san. Her sleeping face was so

divine, I couldn't help but to stare. Not long after that, her eyes opened. Her expression changed from sleepiness to surprise as she

stared back at me. I couldn't take the awkward silence so I broke it with flipping her skirt up with my foot. "Polka dots. Nice." I

smirked. I thought that she was going to cry but instead she sat up and pulled down my PE pants. "Stripes. Not bed either." She

smirked back. Oh she did not just do that!


	2. Chapter 2

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

**Thank you for the reviews. Sorry if it took so long for me to update. I had too much work these weeks. A special thanks **

**to for Stella-luna1616 for the advice. I'll try to format my story better this time. Enjoy my new chapter. This chapter **

**might be a little boring. Sorry. **

* * *

**Previous:**

I couldn't take the awkward silence, so I broke it with flipping her skirt up with my foot. "Polka dots. Nice!" I smirked. I thought

that she was going to cry, but instead she sat up and pulled down my PE pants. "Stripes. Not bed either." She smirked back. Oh,

she did not just do that!

* * *

For a whole minute I couldn't move. I was shocked. This was Mikan Sakura, the angel of the school, the light of the school's male population. Why did she pull my pants down? "What was that for?" I screamed. The girl kept the smirk as she spoke: "An eye for an eye, Hyuga. You saw my panties and I see your boxers. That's the order of life. Get used to it." "B-b-but…" "Butts are for shaking." "You're Mikan Sakura." "So what?" "Aren't you supposed to be the angel?" Her smirk became wider "So even you believed it? Have you ever heard of two faces yet?" I didn't say a word. "Oh well. The class is almost starting. Adios, Hyuga." She said and went out through the roof door. I stayed on the roof, trying to process what just happened. Polka-dot panties, stripe boxers, smirk, Mikan Sakura, two faces. I just saw her polka-dots panties?!?!?!?!?! She just saw my stripes boxers!?!?!?!?!? Mikan Sakura is two-faced!?!?!?!?!? It took me this long to process this!?!?!?!? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Too much thinking makes my head hurt. I was still shocked, but classes were starting soon. I sighed. Let's get the rest of the day over with.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Mikan Sakura is two-faced!?!?!?" I yelled in my head while driving back to my mansion. Why??? That question has been in my head for a half of the school day. Why did she have to pretend that she only had one face? Why did she tell me that she had two faces? And most important question: why did she pull my pants down? She did explain her reason, but isn't there a saying "An eye for an eye, the whole world goes blind"? Well, her actions didn't make the whole world blind or anything. But she's Mikan Sakura, the angel of the school, the light for the male population. Great, now I'm repeating myself. Mikan Sakura really drives people mad. Some people get mad from love and some people, like me, get mad from shock. Actually, I think there's only me like that… But that's not the point! The point is Mikan Sakura just saw my boxers and I can't do anything, because who would believe that the school's angel pulled down the pants of the hottest guy in the school and saw his boxers? The answer is: no one. No one would believe such a thing.

I sighed for the 100th time in the day as I drove through the gates of my mansion and went out of the car. In front of me was a very big, very white, very gorgeous mansion. Yup yup, that's my mansion. (Jealous? I know you are.) Well, I came in, went into the kitchen, grabbed some junk food and was about to go upstairs into my room when the familiar sound "Don't even think about bringing all that junk food upstairs" stroke me. A very annoying voice echoed. "How many times have I told you, Onii-chan, stop eating junk food for dinner. It's bad for your health. Why don't you ask the maids to make you a salad? And go take a shower before coming down to eat a proper meal." "Is that a way you greet your brother, Aoi?" I turned around to see a raven head, just like mine, red eyes, just like mine, and a very loud mouth, not like mine, girl. "Hi. Don't change the subject. I will not tolerate this kind of actions again." "Fine, 'mom'. Tell the maids to cook me something with a lot of meat, I'm starving." I said and went up straight to my room. "I'm not your mom!" she shouted, but I just ignored the annoying voice. The incident on the roof kept me thinking for the rest of the evening, and it was the last thing I was thinking about before drifting to sleep.

Ring ring ring ring…… Aaaaaaaaah! Did I just scream like a girl? Oh my god! I just screamed like a girl. Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Well, it's not that surprising, actually. Who wouldn't scream like a girl if they had dreamt of being surrounded by hundreds of evil two-faced Mikan Sakuras that were trying to pull your pants down? The answer is: everybody, except for me. That's because no one had ever experienced that in real life, I wasn't actually surrounded by hundreds of Mikan Sakuras – only one. But that's not the point! The point is if anyone ever dreams about that, they'll think that it was funny, because they don't know that Mikan Sakura is a two-faced girl. If I dream about that, I'll be terrified, because I know that she's a two faced girl. And apparently, I googled this, two-faces is not when you actually have two faces, that's what I thought yesterday in the morning, but when you have 2 personalities, I didn't find that out until yesterday's evening.

I stood up from my king-sized bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. I came downstairs, went into the kitchen and ate a decent breakfast. (See, Aoi. I did what you said.) I was about to leave to school, when I heard my grandmother saying "Good Morning, Natsume." "Good morning, grandmother." "Would you mind if we talk for a while?" I didn't refuse. I couldn't refuse, since I know that in my grandmother's – and probably in every Hyuga's – dictionary "Would you mind" means "You must". And when grandmother says must, she means 'must'. I followed her into the library. My family's library.

"You've grown so much since I last saw you, Natsume…" Grandmother said like she hasn't seen me in ages. We just saw each other this Monday. Actually, only I saw her. She was too busy talking to the prime minister of Japan to notice me.

"You remind me of your grandfather. Such a gentleman…" Grandmother always talks about grandfather, whether I look like him or not. I didn't say a word. When an old Hyuga talks, you're not supposed to interrupt. "… He always used to call me an angel and praised me all the time, not that his remarks were wrong. After all, I was gorgeous inside and out." Being arrogant runs in the Hyuga family's blood. I knew that I had to respond to this statement or she'll think that I'm sleeping.

"Yes, grandmother. You certainly were. But I have to go to school. So if you don't mind, can you please go to the point?"

"I have seen you with a lot of girls lately. But sadly, none of them are good enough for you. The girl last week…"

"Luna…"

"She was so rude. Did she study etiquette? Ever?"

"Grandmother, please. This is a very long conversation. How about we finish it this afternoon?"

"Your best friend Nogi Ruka is flying back to Japan soon with his family. And he's bringing back his girlfriend with him. Her name is Hotaru Imai. She's beautiful, smart, polite and she is the heiress of Imai Tech Corp. I'm sure that the Nogi's are going to brag about this as soon as they meet us. But I can't allow that! I'm sure that in the long list of your girlfriends, you can find a girl as good as Imai Hotaru, right?"

I gulped. When grandmother says "right", it means "unless you want to die with the most painful way, do as I say".

"Certainly."

"Now, you can go to school. Don't worry, I'll send an e-mail to your teacher saying that it's not your fault for being late. And don't forget what I have just said, Natsume." She shouted at me as I was approaching the door.

"Thank you, grandmother. Have a nice day." I walked out of the library.

"Oi…" I yawned for the 54th time as I look at the ceiling of the auditorium. I skipped school today, and what's a better place to hide than the school's auditorium? This room is only used for special occasions or by the drama club every Friday, which is, actually, today. I didn't feel like sitting in the class. I was too busy finding a girl that is good enough for my grandmother. Luna is way too rude. Sumire is way too stubborn. Sonoko is way too bubbly. There's no way I'm going to find a perfect girlfriend for grandmother by the time Ruka comes.

"I promised we'll use the real flowers for the play, but we will actually use the fake ones." I heard Narumi sensei, the supervisor of the drama club, speaking. "There are two sided. It looks like a red rose now. But if you press this button, it will flip and become a yellow rose. Isn't it fascinating?" He continued.

The students applauded as he demonstrated how to use the flower.

And then I felt a light bulb flashing on top of my head. Fake… two sided… Two-faced!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

**Thank you for the reviews. Sorry if it took so long for me to update. I had too much work these weeks. Here comes the **

**3****rd**** chapter. Enjoy!!!**

* * *

**Previous:**

"I promised we'll use the real flowers for the play, but we will actually use the fake ones." I heard Narumi sensei, the supervisor of the drama club, speaking. "There are two sided. It looks like a red rose now. But if you press this button, it will flip and become a yellow rose. Isn't it fascinating?" He continued.

The students applauded as he demonstrated how to use the flower.

And then I felt a light bulb flashing on top of my head. Fake… two sided… Two-faced!!!

* * *

Huff huff… Just one more floor. I can do this. C'mon… Huff huff…

You're probably thinking what I'm doing right now. Well, to answer your question, I'm on the 9th floor of the school building. Why am I doing this? Not for a workout, of course… I've been trying the whole day to ask Mikan Sakura to go out with me (as in a fake way). But since she was always surrounded by her fan boys and her friends, I had no other choice but to follow her and wait for the right moment to talk to her. The thing is, she a very fast runner, and so she managed to run away from me every moment she saw me.

Now I'm running to the roof top, where she is, probably, sleeping. And, finally, I reached it. Yes!

I opened the door and saw Mikan lying on the ground with her closed eyes. Her right hand was holding a shovel. Where did she get that huge shovel? I quietly closed the door and walked tow47ards her. I didn't know how to wake her up, since girls are monsters when they are woken by something loud. So I was about to tap her shoulder, when …

"Don't even try to flip my skirt or I'll make sure that neither your mom nor your fan girls will ever recognize your face." She said this as she raised the shovel.

As much as I wanted to believe that she won't do it, I stepped back and tried not to make any sudden movements.

"I didn't come here for that, Sakura."

"Then what do you want?" She opened her eyes and stood up. The wind was blowing into my eyes. Mikan's eyes were sharp, and she totally looked like an assassin ninja… Or was it just my imagination?

Alright, here I go!

This is gonna be easy…

Ask a question – Get an answer…

Breathe. 1, 2, 3…

"Can you please go out with me? No… I…I… I mean can you go out with me… in a fake way? Yeah, fake… My grandmother's gonna kill me if you won't. You… are… my only option. Really…Please!!! I'll give you anything… You'll have anything you want… Do you want any bags or clothes or something? Gucci, Prada… How about a resort? I'll give you one … Just… please… become my fake lover!!!" I said it… Not looking into her eyes, but her shoes… Scared to death of her ninja glare…

I looked up to see her reaction… Did her ninja's face change? But the only thing I saw was her closing her eyes, and a smile…

"Hahahahaha…" I heard her laugh.

I felt uneasy… "Please, I beg you. This is not a joke." I wanted to reassure the situation…

"I'm not laughing because I think that you're joking."

"Huh?"

"I just find it stupid that you think I'll be your fake lover for money."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on. Use your brain power will you?" she said as she drew circles around her head. "What is the infamous quote of the school?"

It took me some time to figure it out, and then I remembered the GA principle and said: "Billions of dollars are expected, not encouraged."

"So why would a daughter of a billionaire – like me – need your money? Get it now, Hyuga?"

"Oooooh." Well, sorry for not being born with a superbrain and the double face personality, Mikan Sakura… But then it made me wonder: "What do you want then?"

"How about nothing? N-O-T-H-I-N-G…Ok? I'm out of here." she said and walked straight to the door.

"Hey, wait! Please I beg you! This is just temporary. I'll find a girl that will be suitable for my grandmother ASAP. I will ask her out. Please until then, become my girlfriend! It's fake!"

I heard her stop. "You'll ask her out?" she said, emphasizing the words "You" and "her"

"Yes, I promise."

"Alright then… I'm in… with whatever you call it "fake lover" thing… It will be interesting to see the great Natsume Hyuga asking a girl out. I'll cooperate with you for a while. But I have to get something in return don't you think?"

"What do you want?" I couldn't help but to feel afraid. Mikan Sakura was a tricky person. Who knows what she'll think of?

"You'll wear what ever I say on the day you ask that girl out."

I felt relieved. She wasn't that tricky after all.

"Ok. As long as it's not a tutu…"

"Alright then, a tutu."

"What? Why?"

"What's more embarrassing than a tutu?"

"You could have asked me to wear nothing."

"If that girl sees you naked, she'll have a major nosebleed and will say yes. What I want is for you to be rejected."

"If that's what you want than forget what I just said. I'll just look for another girl."

"Ok. I just thought that you might be in trouble if you didn't find a girl that is to your grandmother's liking."

I felt myself realize that no matter what cost, I had to make Mikan Sakura my fake lover. "Alright. But only a tutu."

"That's all I asked for anyway."

"So what do we do now?"

"Now we go back to class. Give me your Yahoo! address. We'll talk later."

I nodded and gave her my Yahoo! address. _Heartbreaker_. I opened the door for both of us and we both went to our classes. I didn't see her for the rest of the day. And I didn't want to see her for the rest of the day.

After the school was over, I drove back to the mansion. I didn't bother going into the kitchen and just ran up to my room. After a long shower, I logged into my Yahoo! account. A person that had "PrettyPrincess" as her/his account asked me to add me to my friend list. I agreed, it was probably Sakura.

_PrettyPrincess: _Yo

_Heartbreaker:_ Hey

_PrettyPrincess:_ How are you?

_Heartbreaker:_ Fine

_PrettyPrincess:_ You're supposed to say "And you?"

_Heartbreaker:_ Get down to business, woman

_PrettyPrincess:_ Fine.

_PrettyPrincess:_ Geez, you're so no fun at all

_PrettyPrincess:_ First let me tell you some ground things that we'll need to do

_Heartbreaker:_ Which are…

_PrettyPrincess:_ I'll have to break up with my boyfriends

_Heartbreaker:_ Was that a typo?

_PrettyPrincess:_ What

_Heartbreaker:_ boyfriends is supposed to be boyfriend

_PrettyPrincess:_ Gees, you're so picky and no, it's not a typo.

_Heartbreaker:_ Oooooh……

_PrettyPrincess:_ You'll have to break up with your girlfriends too

_PrettyPrincess:_ And no, there's no typo there either

_Heartbreaker:_ Do I have to break up with them all?

_PrettyPrincess:_ Yep. All of them

_Heartbreaker:_ But

_PrettyPrincess:_ Butts are for shaking

_Heartbreaker:_ You know what? That quote is getting old

_PrettyPrincess: _Do you think I care?

_PrettyPrincess:_ Second, here're some rules that you have to obey!!!

_Heartbreaker:_ Where?

_PrettyPrincess has just sent you a file "Rules of BF"_

_Accept__Decline_

_Heartbreaker has downloaded the file_

_PrettyPrincess:_ Read the file. Carefully. And memorize it word-by-word

_Heartbreaker:_ Anything else?

_PrettyPrincess:_ No. bye

And she signed out immidiately. I opened the file and read it over. Oh… This will be one heck of a fake romance…


	4. Chapter 4

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

**Thank you for the reviews. I tried writing this chap a little faster than usual so there might be some errors.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Previous:**

_PrettyPrincess:_ Second, here're some rules that you have to obey!!!

_Heartbreaker:_ Where?

_PrettyPrincess has just sent you a file "Rules of BF"_

_Accept__Decline_

_Heartbreaker has downloaded the file_

_PrettyPrincess:_ Read the file. Carefully. And memorize it word-by-word

_Heartbreaker:_ Anything else?

_PrettyPrincess:_ No. bye

And she signed out immediately. I opened the file and read it over. Oh… This will be one heck of a fake romance…

* * *

Beep-beep-beeeep, beep-beep-beeeep. Waking up, waking up already. SHUT UP, you stupid alarm clock!

I slammed the alarm and sat up from my bed, trying to open my eyes. It was only 7 AM.

RULE #1: WAKE UP EVERY WEEKDAY AT 7 AM (OR EARLIER).

I managed to stand up and walked to the bathroom, where I prepared myself for school. The weekend was over too fast; and I didn't have time for a normal rest – going to nightclubs with girls and drinking tequila... Huh, what am I talking about? I have broken up with every girl I dated…

I ran downstairs and walked straight to the door without even glancing into the kitchen.

RULE #2: DON'T EAT BREAKFAST AND GO STAIGHT TO YOUR CAR TO PICK ME UP

"You haven't even eaten your breakfast, Nii-chan." I heard Aoi shouting from the kitchen. "Hey! Come back here and eat!"

"Aoi, sorry, no time for breakfast…" – I spoke out.

"And why is that, Mr. Huyga?"

I turned around to see my grandmother wearing pale grey kimono, standing on the staircase and looking straight into my eyes.

I started wondering if I should come back to the kitchen and eat. I was standing between the kitchen and the door, between life and death, between my favorite roasted lobsters and my favorite Mercedes…

"Mikan's waiting for me." – I replied with a smile.

RULE #3: IF ANYONE ASKS WHY YOU'RE GOING OUT SO EARLY IN THE MORNING, YOU MUST SAY THAT I'M WAITING. WITH A BIG SMILE!!!

"Aoi, do I look good?" – I turned 90o and tried to look my best.

"Don't you always look good?" – She replied with a smirk. "You look good even in your bunny pajamas…"

"Hey, how did you know I have bunny pajamas?"

Grandmother went down and stared at me, even scarier than Mikan's assassin ninja glare…

"Natsume, I'd like to see the bunny pajamas ashes this afternoon."

I felt like my heart was ripped apart.

"Grandmother, please. This is the only bunny thing I have left. You burned everything else one month ago. The bunny pajamas are the only thing I hid." I begged. No, not my bunnies!!!

"Hid?"

"Oopsie. Pretend that you didn't hear that, grandmother." I said and covered my mouth. I was the only person in my family that had issues with keeping my mouth shut.

"Hey, Natsume, are you going to pick up your precious Mikan or not?" Aoi interrupted.

"Oh, right. Goodbye everyone." I ran to the door, escaping the scary glare of my grandmother. Credit goes to Aoi.

"You look especially good today." Aoi shouted.

"Yeah, yeah."

I said and went to my car. I drove to Mikan's mansion and was waiting at the door. By the way, her mansion was just 3 mansions away from mine … (I didn't know that until she texted me the other day.)

An old butler came out.

"Are you Mr. Hyuga Natsume?"

"Yes. Where's Mikan? I'm here to pick her up…"

"I'm very sorry, but Ms. Sakura had already left. However, she did leave you a postcard."

The butler gave me a pink card from his front pocket.

The postcard read: _Oopsie, I forgot all about you. Just drive to school, I'll meet you there._

Oh… Ok…

Wait a second…

That doesn't make any sense. If she wrote this to me at home, why didn't she stay at home and wait for me?

"Alright. Bye." I said and drove to school.

As I drove, only one thought ran through my mind… DID SHE TRICK ME?! Was the list of rules a set up? I mean, look at what happened just a minute ago...

Then another thought came up in my mind. She agreed to help me, maybe she only gave me these rules for my own benefit…

I kept thinking about it, driving slowly, not worrying about the time. My school starts at 9, so I had nothing to worry about.

I drove through the school gates as I saw Mikan Sakura standing near the parking lot, waiting for me. She was surrounded by her fan boys again. She spotted me and waved to my direction. I parked the car and walked to her.

"Hi, Natsume-kun" she said as she smiled.

Then she turned around and looked at her fan boys and said: "Thank you so much for keeping a company. But I'm afraid that Natsume-kun will feel jealous if he sees you guys with me. I'm so sorry, but can you please leave me and my boyfriend alone?" She covered mouth and used her "puppy eyes" technique.

The fan boys smiled at Mikan, then turned around to me and gave if-Sakura-san-wasn't-here-you-would-be-dead glare. Thousands assassin ninja glares... Hundreds times scarier than my grandmother's glare…

I hugged Mikan's waist and glared back at them.

RULE #4: IF MY FAN BOYS GLARE AT YOU FOR BEING WITH ME, YOU HAVE TO HUG MY WAIST AND GLARE BACK, NO MATTER HOW SCARED YOU MIGHT BE!!!

We walked through the parking lot… And went to the classroom, where we'll have first period…

"Sorry, I forgot that you were going to pick me up. I hope that you're not angry."

"Of course I'm not. It's ok." Of course I was angry. Who wouldn't be angry if he was harassed from the beginning of the day?

Adding to that, my stomach was growling. I was very extraordinary hungry.

"Ooooh. It seems like you're hungry. I knew that you'll skip your breakfast to pick me up, so I made a breakfast for you." She smiled and gave me a bentou, wrapped in pink.

"I made it myself." She said and gave me a huge I'm-an-angel smile.

I opened the bentou. Something smelled horribly bad…

I looked down at the bentou… It was spaghetti… Or something that looked like spaghetti… I doubted it was even edible.

However, my stomach was growling even louder… My stomach forced me to eat some what-I-wouldn't-call-spaghetti-in-1000-years. 

"Mikan?" Turned out spaghetti was AS HORRIBLE AS IT SMELLED.

"Yes, Natsume-kun?"

"What spices did you put in?"

"A bit of salt and sugar…" She paused. Spaghetti wasn't supposed to taste that bad, even with salt and sugar. "… and a whole bottle of vinegar..."

A BOTTLE OF VINEGAR??? I'M SURPRISED THAT THIS HASN'T CAUSED AN EXPLOSION!!! WHO PUTS SALT, SUGAR AND A BOTTLE VINEGAR IN SPAGHETTI!!! EVEN I'M SMARTER THAN THAT!!!

"Is it bad? I never made spaghetti before so…" she said with a puppy face.

"No! It's great." I said and ate her spaghetti. Had to eat her spaghetti… People were watching…

RULE #5: ALL MY COOKING IS GOOD, NO MATTER HOW BAD IT IS

I heard some of my classmates say "Aaw… Kawaii…" Some girl from the back said something like: "Natsume is such a good boyfriend, it obviously tastes bad… But he still eats it for Mikan-chan's sake."

Even though the spaghetti was disgusting, I felt good! People thought that I was a nice boyfriend. My plan worked perfectly. Or her plan…

Once I finished eating what-Mikan-calls-spaghetti-but-anyone-else-tasting-this-will-call-it-poison, I felt sick.

"Natsume-kun, are you ok?" I heard Sakura say.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I said and ran out. Towards the bathroom.

I threw up all her spaghetti. Felt much better… I came back to class, and it turned out I was late for Jin Jin's class.

"Mr. Hyuga, you're 1 minute late. Detention after school."

"Yeah. Whatever." I said and sat down. Next to Mikan, of course…

"Now then.... Let's look over the homework. Exercise number 24, Problem one. Ms. Mikan Sakura?"

I saw Mikan's face becoming pale. She stood up from her seat and said: "Mr. Jinno, I'm sorry, I didn't do my homework. I…"

"Ms. Sakura, I'll meet you today after school as well." Jin-Jin glared at her.

…

"Wait, Mr. Jinno, it's my fault!" I shouted in the class and stood up.

RULE #6: EVERYTHING I DO WRONG IS YOUR FAULT!!!

"Really, Mr. Hyuga?" His glare changed direction, and now stared at me.

"Yes. We went on a date yesterday. She said that she had to go back to her mansion to do Math, but I said that she didn't have to. At first, she hesitated and told me to drive her home anyway. But I insisted, so she had to stay." I lied.

"I believe I made a mistake. Ms. Sakura, no detention. Mr. Hyuga, I'll see you tomorrow after school too."

I sighed and sat down. Mikan was looking at me apologetically, but her eyes looked otherwise.

Mr. Jinno came back to the desk and continued his lesson in the angry mood. All the female students were looking at me like I was a knight in shining armors. They were completely touched by how I protected Mikan from the "evil dragon of detentions".

Everything seemed fine until I heard Mikan whispering very loudly, giggling at the same time: "Natsume-kun, you're such a pervert!" Everyone was staring at us like I was molesting her. I WASN'T DOING ANYTHING!!! And than I remembered…

RULE #7: MY BOYFRIEND IS A PERVERT, EVEN IF HE'S NOT.

"Mr. Hyuga, I'll see you the day after tomorrow after school, OK?" Mr. Jinno was officially angry!!! "And STOP INTERRUPTING MY CLASS!"

The classes continued like "normal" afterwards.

Detention was long… Jin Jin talked about PDA (Public Displays of Affection) the whole time. After I got out of detention (luckily), I came to the parking lot to wait for Mikan at the school gates. I "promised" her that I'll drive her back home.

I have been waiting for an hour already, but she still wasn't here. I was getting impatient when a voice message came. It was from Mikan. "Hey. I'm in the mall with my friends right now. I promised them that I'll come after school. I was going to call you, but I was too busy picking dresses for the girls. So I forgot… Sorry! Just go home alone today, okay? Love ya!!"

Ugh!!! Her voice was so annoying… It almost felt like she did all of those things on purpose.

Maybe she did…

NO!!!! I can't believe I was tricked so easily! Can't believe that this Mikan Sakura managed to torture me the whole day…

Oh, I'm going to make her suffer… She'll be in so much trouble, that she'll wish to go to hell. I'm going to take revenge on that evil woman.

But how? How…

I felt my lips turning into a wide smile…

Mikan Sakura, you're dead. After all, you did say "An eye for an eye", right?


	5. Chapter 5

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Here comes the fifth!**

**Enjoy!**

**Previous:**

NO! I can't believe I was tricked so easily! Can't believe that this Mikan Sakura managed to torture me the whole day…

Oh, I'm going to make her suffer… She'll be in so much trouble, that she'll wish to go to hell. I'm going to take revenge on that evil woman.

But how? How…

I felt my lips turning into a wide smile…

Mikan Sakura, you're dead. After all, you did say "An eye for an eye", right?

Beep-beep-beep-beeep-beeep-beep-beep-beep… My phone was ringing, a reminder. It was 6 in the morning.

I looked at my phone. It read: _PAY BACK TIME – HERE I COME_.

I took out a recorder (Imai High Tech newest version – "Technology had never been this useful" motto (and now I understand why)) out of my bed drawer and dialed Sakura. She was going to pay, big time (or should I say "enormous" time).

"Hello? Who is it?" I heard a very sleepy voice.

"Hey, Honey. You awake?" I said, smirking…

"Thanks to you, what do you want?" She said and yawned. She didn't bother being polite with me.

RULE #1: WAKE UP EVERY WEEKDAY AT 7 AM (OR EARLIER). _(__TRY WAKING UP AT__ 6 AM YOURSELF)_

"Just wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"I want to know more about you. It will be good to know each other better." Yeah, right… I am a VERY CARING BOYFRIEND, am I not?

"Forget about it...Bye!"

Shoot… She will hang up! I screamed.

"Sakura, …"

"FINE! Stop with the "eee" already. It is annoying!"

"Thanks, then we'll start" I turned on the recorder. "What's your favorite food?" I let the recorder continue the pay-back job.

"Sushi."

"Really? I like it too." I fall asleep right after. Not listening to the conversation between the recorder and Sakura anymore.

"…"

… The phone vibrated on the bed. It was now 8. I stood up from the bed and prepared myself to school. The recorder was still talking to Sakura.

"What's your favorite singer?"

"You already asked me that. "And why should you care?" is what I said the last time and what I'll say now." – she sounded really annoyed.

"You're my girlfriend, remember?"

"Fake girlfriend. How many times do I need to correct you, Mr. Smarty Striped Pants?" She corrected.

Silence.

"Ugh. Fine and for the 5th time, Justin Bieber!"

"I'll buy the CD for you."

"I don't want to have 5 copies of the same CD!"

"What your favorite food?"

"OK. This is getting REALLY annoying, for the 6th time, IT IS SUSHI! Now can I go and brush my teeth?"

"Really? I like it too."

"I KNOW YOU LIKE IT, DUMBASS! Now let me brush my teeth or I'll come to school with a stinking breath and kiss you till death! AND NO ONE WILL STOP ME 'CAUSE I'M YOUR FAKE GIRLFRIEND!"

Situation was getting bad (and good, at the same time, if you know what I mean).

I took the phone and continued the conversation on my own.

"Sure honey, I'll call you later…" – I said calmly…

"GOSH! You should have said that 2 hours ago!" She hung up.

I went down and had a normal breakfast ("FINALLY", I heard Aoi scream in my head).

Aoi, herself, has already left for school and grandmother is overseas! As usual… (Never know what she does there. Not that anyone was hiding it from me. It's just that I'm way too lazy to find out.)

After breakfast I dialed Sakura again. I gave her approximately 40 minutes. Enough for her to brush her teeth and prepare herself for school… But not enough for her to her eat.

"Hey, ready for school yet?"

"Not yet. Can I eat?" Sakura asked nicely (strange, right? Being hungry really makes her weird)

BULL'S EYE!

RULE #2: DON'T EAT BREAKFAST AND GO STAIGHT TO YOUR CAR TO PICK ME UP _(You try to not eat breakfast and come to me)_

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you."

"Natsume Hyuga, did you eat something VERY BAD yesterday? You've been weird since this morning."

"What do you mean weird? What wrong with calling your girlfriend at 6 AM?"

"EVERYTHING IS WRONG WITH CALLING YOUR GIRLFRIEND AT 6 AM, YOU IDIOT!" She was losing her cool temper. I would pay everything to see her face right now.

"I wish I was right next to you right now to see you. I always thought you looked cute when you're angry." My sweet talking skills had never been this useful before.

"Awwww… Sorry, sweet talking doesn't work on me." OK… That didn't work well.

"It's time for school already, we need to go now. Hey! How about you come to my house and say hi to grandmother? Then I'll drive both of us to school."

"No!"

"It only takes 5 minutes to go to school from my mansion. Just come."

"No! I told you!"

"Pl…"

"OK… Fine, I'll go, I'll go! Jeez… But I'm not meeting your grandmother." She hung up.

Great, now I could make my way to the car and drive peacefully to school. Alone.

By the way, I ordered the maids to not open the door for Sakura, so she was probably waiting for me at the gates… Poor my girlfriend… Fake girlfriend.

When I came to school, girls were surrounding me again.

RULE #3: IF ANYONE ASKS WHY YOU'RE GOING OUT SO EARLY IN THE MORNING, YOU MUST SAY THAT I'M WAITING. WITH A BIG SMILE! _(WAIT FOR ME TILL ETERNITY 'CAUSE I'M NOT COMING FOR YOU)_

Sakura was late for class (thanks to me, of course). Jin Jin was angry and gave her detention. The girl growled through 3 periods. Lunch time came. So did my next revenge.

"Hey, Mikan. Let's go get some lunch."

"Yep… let's go!" she said and went after me. She was probably too desperate for food…

We came hand in hand through a hallway, passing my fan girls. The most extreme once… (I called them yesterday. They were all "Anything you want, Natsume-sama, even a space ship!")

They glared at Sakura angrily. I hugged her waist and looked at her, trying to send a message through my eyes. Sakura probably understood what I meant and glared back at the fan girls.

RULE #4: IF MY FAN BOYS GLARE AT YOU FOR BEING WITH ME, YOU HAVE TO HUG MY WAIST AND GLARE BACK, NO MATTER HOW SCARED YOU MIGHT BE! _(NOW WHO'S GLARING?)_

We came into the crowded lunch room. Once we came in, everyone went silent. We sat on the table in the center, waiting for the waiter.

"Good day, sir… madam." a waiter came right away. What do you expect from a 5 star service?

"Mademoiselle." Sakura corrected.

"May I have your order?"

"I want roasted lobsters." I said.

"And you, ma…"

"We won't order anything else." I stopped him. The guy went away.

"What will I eat?" Sakura was angry, I could see it in her eyes.

"You, my dear, will eat this." I took out a bentou out of nowhere. Sakura, who was very hungry by now, opened the bentou with extreme excitement, like a kid opening their X-mas present.

"What's this?" she said and took out what-was-supposed-to-be-a-sandwich-but-failed-to-be-on-purpose (Thanks to the gardener for being such a bad cook.)

"That is my gift to you, for making me a bentou yesterday. Try some."

She tried some.

"How is it?" I asked politely.

"It's very nice." Sakura answered and, probably, suppressing her tears.

RULE #5: ALL MY COOKING IS GOOD, NO MATTER HOW BAD IT IS _(I DIDN'T COOK THIS THOUGH)_

The people around us were touched and felt sorry for Sakura, who kept eating the food to prove to me that it was good. Before I could ask her again if my cooking satisfied her, she ran out of the cafeteria, looking very composed (even though her eyes said otherwise) and "green"…

The bell rang and I came back to class. Sakura was 10 minutes late for biology class – good thing it wasn't Jin Jin's class, it was Ms. Kurasaki's one. She apologized to her and the classmates (for the 1st time in her life, probably) and came to seat next to me. And this is where it all starts…

"Now let's continue going over your homework. Miss Sakura, since you were late… question number 4 – what is the answer?"

Mikan stood up, not even raising her head and said: "I'm sorry, Ms. Kurasaki, I didn't do my homework."

"I'm afraid I'll have to give you a double detention."

Then Sakura looked at me from the corner of her eyes… SHARPLY… I understood the message completely. Well, almost completely.

"Wait, Ms. Kurasaki. This is all my fault!" I stood up bravely, like a "knight in shining armors".

"How come, Mr. Hyuga?"

"Well, we went on a date yesterday. After we had dinner, roasted lobsters, I told her to come back home and finish her homework. She said she finished it. It's my fault for believing her. Please, forgive my foolishness…" A couple of dramatic tears rushed down my cheeks, and my fan girls immediately started crying waterfalls while glaring at Sakura.

RULE #6: EVERYTHING I DO WRONG IS YOUR FAULT! _(YOU WISH!)_

"I'm very disappointed in you, Ms. Sakura. Now I know that I'm not your ethics teacher, but, honesty is the best policy in Gakuen Alice. Do you remember? I'll let it slide this time, but never repeat this mistake again, especially in my class." Ms. Kurasaki came back to her lesson looking sad (more like heartbroken)…

The class continued and it was time for my next revenge. I grabbed her hand under the desk and said pretty loudly:

"Now now, Mikan. We don't want to do this in class anymore, do we?"

Sakura looked surprised and angry. Poor Sakura!

RULE #7: MY BOYFRIEND IS A PERVERT, EVEN IF HE'S NOT. _(GUESS WHAT? MY GIRLFRIEND IS A PERVERT TOO!)_

"Miss Sakura, come with me after class. And don't think of skipping it!" Ms. Kurasaki was very very angry, she just didn't show it.

After Biology ended, Sakura went after the teacher, while I stayed and was surrounded by crying fangirls, feeling sorry for me that I have been tricked by "the school's angel" Mikan Sakura… As they were trying to convince me to break up with her, they also mentioned that Sakura is a very nice girl – meaning that her charm still fooled everyone.

The classes continued normally, if you consider being glared at normal.

The school ended some hours later. I went straight to my car. (Sakura was having detention anyway.) Just when I was about to leave, I saw Sakura walking to my car. She sat in the passenger seat and told me to drive to the Hyuga Park (yep, my family owns a park as well – it is hard to find ways to spend left over money.) looking strict. I did what she told me.

When we were pretty far away from the school, I started talking.

"What happened to detention? Aren't you supposed to be in there?"

"I asked them to be kind enough to forgive me this time. It wasn't hard considering my social status."

There was one not awkward silence between us.

"What did you do that for?" the girl finally yelled. I could see it in her eyes – the anger and disappointment.

"An eye for an eye, remember."

"That's MY line!"

"Correction, it's our line. Now that we're a couple, I think we should start sharing things. Ya know, like couples do… Eating from the same ice-cream cup, drinking the same cocktail, sleeping on the same bed… "

"YOU JERK! Are you just saying this to annoy me?"

"You can say that."

Sakura sighed and became composed again.

We stopped in the park. It is actually near our house. (We built it, DUH?)

"Here," she said and gave me a sheet of typed paper and a black pen. "This is a NEW agreement paper. To make sure that you'll keep the deal. I'll also add some other things. First: We'll not try to embarrass each other in public anymore. Second: Once I say you have to DO something, you got to DO it. I'm an expert: I know much more stuff about this business than you do. Now SIGN IT."

I nodded (to make her happy), grabbed the paper, looked through the agreement (it looked really complicated) and signed it. Sakura took it back and stuffed it into her Louis Vuitton back.  
And that raised a question inside my head:

"Wait… You said that you're an expert. So you've done this whole … "fake couple"-ing thing before?" I was trying to be Sherlock Holmes and deduct "information" from her speech. For one moment, I felt smart!

"I did it several times already."  
"How many times?" I took out a pen and a notebook out of nowhere. Or was it just my imagination?

"20. You're my 21st costumer."

WOW, she is really an expert…

"Am I supposed to be honored?"

"I suppose so."

"SO… The reason why guys ask for your help…"

"All of them ask me for help to please the elders. The most common is my-parents-are-going-to-engage-me-with-a-random-rich-girl-if-I-don't-have-a-girlfriend. You're the same, huh?"

"Well not exactly…" I was stopped by my mobile's ring tone. I looked at the dial ID.

It read THE GRANDMOTHER.

"Hello, grandmother. Did you have a nice trip?"

"Hello, Natsume. I did. Where are you?"

"Huyga Park."

"Oh… Is that the one we invested couple of million dollars in? It's ugly and was poorly invested… You shouldn't stay there… And WHY ARE'T YOU AT HOME YET?"

"Uhm… I'm with Mikan."

"Mikan?" There was a slight pause… "Oh, you mean Mikan Sakura, the daughter of Yukihira Sakura? Your girlfriend? Why don't you invite her for dinner? I want to meet her myself officially. Today is a good day to meet her, RIGHT Natsume?" My grandmother continued.

OK… Somehow I had a bad feeling about it…

"Alright, grandmother! I'm looking forward to it. Bye-bye!" I hung up right away.

"You! Who is it? What is it?" Sakura looked at me. Trying to read my thoughts, I guess.

…

"Are you ready to meet my grandmother?"


	6. Chapter 6

Fake Romance

By: money127

**I was thinking of including a gay couple (minor characters, and they will act very differently from the original story). I was wondering what you think about it. I tried to set a poll in my profile, but I'm not so smart when it comes to technology. Therefore, it didn't seem to work. So would you mind telling me what you think about this idea by e-mailing me (as in private message)? If it's too much of a bother to you, you can just review. But I would prefer a message (not that I have the right to choose, huh?). **

**Here is my 6****th**** chapter. Enjoy!**

**Previous:**

"Oh, you mean Mikan Sakura, the daughter of Yukihira Sakura? Your girlfriend? Why don't you invite her for dinner? I want to meet her myself officially. Today is a good day to meet her, RIGHT Natsume?" My grandmother continued.

OK… Somehow I had a bad feeling about it…

"Alright, grandmother! I'm looking forward to it. Bye-bye!" I hung up right away.

"You! Who is it? What is it?" Sakura looked at me. Trying to read my thoughts, I guess.

…

"Are you ready to meet my grandmother?"

Sakura looked at me with confusion, and then started complaining: "Meet your grandmother? Are you kidding me? No way!"

"Why not? The reason you're my girlfriend IS because of my grandmother, if you don't remember…"

"Not now… It's too early…"

"It's 4 p.m. How late do you want it to be?"

"Idiot, that's not what I meant…"

"Whatever. Just get in the car." I pulled her into the car and drove off.

We drove off from the park in a second. I decided to explain things to her clearly:

"Ok, let's get this straight. The reason you're my girlfriend is because my best friend, Nogi Ruka, has a girlfriend and since…"

"What's your best friend's name again? Sorry, couldn't hear it." Sakura was checking herself in the mirror.

"That doesn't matter right now! So since my grandmother thinks that that girlfriend of his is TOO perfect, she wants me to have a perfect companion as well. To show off basically… The Hyugas like showing off…"

"No wonder…" Sakura muttered.

"You are supposed to act as perfect as possible and make sure that grandmother thinks that you're good enough. If no, the deal is over. You got it?" I said and drove through Hyuga Mansion's gates.

She closed the mirror and said: "Got it."

She looked at me like she was ready for a battle. But I didn't find that surprising, I felt like there will be an intense battle as well…

A maid opened the door, Sakura and I went inside the mansion. That same maid took Sakura's belonging and brought them to the cloak room.

I led her into the guest room. My grandmother was sitting there on the sofa looking very queen-like, wearing a black kimono. Grandmother stood up and walked to me and Mikan as she spotted us. Her extremely red lips curved into a kind smile.

"Hello, Natsume. And you must be Ms. Sakura, right? It's really nice to meet you… Welcome to our mansion. I am Natsume's Grandmother, Mrs. Mitomi Hyuga… " Grandmother greeted Sakura.

"Hello, Mrs. Hyuga! You can just call me Mikan. It sounds really awkward if you call your future granddaughter by her last name, don't you think so?" Sakura commented with her oh-so-famous I'm-an-angel smile.

My grandmother tried to smile a little wider. It seemed like they were in a smiling contest…

Sakura suddenly flinched. "Something smells so nice…" She asked, looking very excited.

"Oh, the cooks are preparing our dinner. Sadly, they're still not done yet." Grandmother commented.

"Can I help?" Sakura asked with an even more excited look.

What was she planning?

"Mikan… I don't…" I started, trying to change her mind. I don't need to spend extra 5 hours in the bathroom. Believe me, I've had enough…

"Oh, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, Natsume…" She looked at me with her puppy dog eyes. Than she stood up on her tiptoes and whispered into my ear: "Let me go, you bastard.", with a very threatening tone.

"Fine, you can go." I gave up…

"Yippy!" She smiled and bowed down in front of my grandmother, "I'll see you at the dinner.", and walked away.

As the door closed after her, grandmother came close to me and put her hand (hardly) on my shoulder and said:

"I'm proud of you. To able to go out with Mikan Sakura is far better than going out with Imai Hotaru. We won this time, Natsume." She tapped me on the same shoulder (and it hurts). "By the way, you seem very close… but make sure that you don't go too close." She said… What is Grandmother talking about?

Grandmother went back into sitting on the sofa. "Have some tea with me, Natsume." I walked to the sofa and sat with her. We just drank tea without saying anything.

After about 20 minutes, Sakura came back into the guest room, smiling… (God, isn't her mouth tired?)  
"Dinner's ready!" She beamed. Grandmother and I followed Sakura into the dining room. Usually, we'd eat inside the kitchen for "commoner effect", but today was a special occasion – Sakura was here.

In the middle of the dinning room was a round table, the kind that you see in restaurants, with three chairs. We sat down. Mikan was on my right side and grandmother sat opposite to us. We started our dinner. The first course was crab soup with cream. Grandmother took one sip and started her questioning session.

"So … how did you meet?" My grandmother was hungry for romance… She didn't get much of it… Not in her age…

"Uhm, let's see… it was the first day of high school. We were in the same class. Well, I guess because of our popularity, I heard a lot about him and vise versa. And eventually we met… We didn't have anything special though... Or that's what I thought…" Sakura started her made-up story.

The real first time we met was the second day of high school, because she was absent on the first day. She was trying to open her locker and just couldn't. I helped her out. She smiled back…

"So there WAS something special?" Grandmother was looking very curious about the something-was-special-after-all thing.

"Well, on a very nice day – was it last week? – Natsume followed me to the roof top and asked me out. Oh, he was so romantic! He had a bouquet of red roses. I have to say, your grandson is a very romantic person." She said dreamily and grabbed my hand.

I don't remember having roses; all I remember is that she had a huge shovel in her hand.

"Well, he isn't usually that romantic. I guess he must be very in love with you." Grandmother looked satisfied…

"Oh, you're flattering me…" She replied, blushing. She continued to talk about our very "romantic" story as we finished soup. Well, at least, grandmother and Sakura finished. A maid came in and took away our dishes. 

The next dish was fried snails with veggies. As Sakura continued talking about our fake romantic history, she saw my plate still full.

"Oh, Natsume, why aren't you eating?" She asked, looking at me with her puppy eyes again.

Wasn't it obvious? She was holding my right hand the whole time. How was I supposed to eat? With my left hand or something? (Now that I think about it, this is a good idea…)

"Oh, look, you have something in your hair." I said and leaned to her. "You're holding my hand, you dumbass." I whispered angrily and took nothing out of her hair. I think she understood what I said, as she took my fork and picked some veggies

(Yep, you just had to pick the things that I hate the most!)

"Say aaah." She said and I had no choice but to open my mouth and chew those disgusting veggies with a smile. EWW!

"Natsume, I never knew that you ate veggies." Grandmother stared at me chewing the veggies and, actually, swallowing them.

"What are you talking about, Mrs. Hyuga? That last time I cooked him soup, he ate all of the veggies and said that the soup was great." The last time she cooked, it was the supposed-to-be-spaghetti thing. It had absolutely no veggies.

"Oh, he just said that to make you happy. The truth is he dislikes veggies. Natsume must really like you, don't you, Natsume?"

WOW… Sakura is really good at faking our relationship!

"Oh, you're flattering me again." She said and blushed (again). She let go of my hand to cover her cheeks. (Such a shy girl… My butt! How could she fake a blush so well?)

I started eating like normal, finally. I stuffed my mouth with snails to get rid of the taste of the veggies. Feels much better…

The last course before desert was roasted lobsters (YAY!). While I was swallowing the last bite of snails, I choked…

"Natsume, are you okay? You don't look well. How about you don't eat anymore?" She was going to separate me from my beloved roasted lobsters!

"Hey, you have something else in your hair." I said and leaned closer to her. "Don't even think about it!" I whispered. "There." I took out something-that-was-supposed-to-be-there out of her hair. "I feel much better now. Let's continue our meal, shall we?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sakura looked concerned. Yeah, right!

"Yeah, I'm good." I smiled. Roasted lobsters – here I come.

"I think you should drink some water. My father taught me that when you choke, it's best to drink water." She said and gave me a glass of water. We gazed at each other for what seemed like forever, me trying to send her a don't-separate-roasted-lobsters-from-me message and her trying to send some bad words back.

"Now that you mention it, how are your parents, Mikan?" Grandmother interrupted our supposed-to-be-love-scene.

"Oh, they are very fine." Sakura turned around and said.

"I heard that your father is a very busy man."

"Yes, he is. But we do have a family meal once in a while." She smiled, but it looked so unnatural. (What happened to her awesome faking skills?)

"Oh, I see." Grandmother said… not very assured, I guess. "Here come the lobsters, Natsume's favorite." Grandmother forgot all about the previous conversation.

We ate peacefully… I enjoyed my time with roasted lobsters, but then…

"Mikan… I'm sure you have heard of Natsume's other special tastes, haven't you?" Grandmother started a new conversation.

"Oh no, I haven't. What is it Mrs. Hyuga?"

"Natsume has a special liking for bu…" NOOOO!

"MIKAN!" I shouted. I had to interrupt her. Grandmother is going to tell her about my love for bunnies. If Sakura hears about it, she's going to tease me brainless!

"Natsume, are you okay?" Sakura looked at me like I have gone nuts.

"Oh my god, you have so many leaves in your hair! How about you go inside the restroom and take them all out?" I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Leaves? Oh, you were in the park right? I have told you already, Natsume, that park is too low-class for us. Leaves fall too much there." I couldn't help but sweat drop after hearing my grandmother's statement. If only she knew that leaves on all trees have to fall eventually, no matter if it's in the Hyuga Park or not.

"You're right. If you'll excuse me…" She said and walked towards the door.

"Mikan, I'll take you to the restroom." I said. Sakura has already reached the dining room door.

Grandmother pulled my hand. I turned around and looked at her. She gave me a folded tissue.

"Just in case." She said softly and winked.

I unfolded the tissue.

…

Wait!

…

That's…

…

A condom? I folded the tissue again and walked to the door where Sakura was waiting.

"Don't be too long!" Grandmother shouted.

Sakura and I made our way to the restroom. I found a trashcan on the way, so I immediately disposed of the tissue.

When we neared the restroom, Sakura turned around.

"What was all that about? I don't have any leaves on my hair, if you are not blind." Sakura looked at me angrily.

"It's nothing, just go inside there for around 10 minutes and then get out, ok?

She signed: "Fine. Gosh…", and went in.

I waited for her outside, flipping the coin, which I found in my pocket.

After exactly 10 minutes, she went out and we made our way back to the dining room. We finished the lobsters and had the commoner's dessert – coffee milkshake and chocolate ice-cream with topping.

"Since we are all finished eating, let's go talk about some business inside the library." Grandmother spoke (more like ordered).

"Sure." I replied.

It must have been a very important business since she hardly ever spoke to outsiders inside the library.

We all went to there. Grandmother was in the front with me and Sakura behind. After some time, grandmother slowed down and walked along side with me. Sakura, feeling like there was something that grandmother wanted to talk to me, moved away.

"Ten minutes, huh? That was fast…" Grandmother said, as if she thought I did something besides waiting for Sakura while we were outside the dining room.

We all came inside the library and sat down on the sofas. Sakura and I sat on one, Grandmother – opposite to us on another sofa.

"As I can see right now, you can't leave each other alone, huh?" Grandmother asked, totally believing that our relationship was real. (Credits go to Mikan Sakura).

"I'm embarrassed to tell you this but… Yes." Sakura said, blushing (once more). She was laying it too thick for her own good.

"Well since that's the case, I was thinking…" Grandmother said, and then paused.

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"How about you guys move in with each other?"


	7. Chapter 7

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Hey, long time no see. I was really hoping for at least some people to answer my question in the beginning of chapter 6 but since no one answered, I shall repeat it again (don't throw tomatoes at me for this). Please answer me this time because this will affect what you'll be reading,**

**I was thinking of including a gay couple (minor characters, and they will act very differently from the original story). I was wondering what you think about it. I tried to set a poll in my profile, but I'm not so smart when it comes to technology. Therefore, it didn't seem to work. So would you mind telling me what you think about this idea by e-mailing me (as in private message)? If it's too much of a bother to you, you can just review. But I would prefer a message (not that I have the right to choose, huh?). **

**Here is my 7****th**** chapter. Enjoy! **

**Previous:**

We all came inside the library and sat down on the sofas. Sakura and I sat on one, Grandmother – opposite to us on another sofa.

"As I can see right now, you can't leave each other alone, huh?" Grandmother asked, totally believing that our relationship was real. (Credits go to Mikan Sakura).

"I'm embarrassed to tell you this but… Yes." Sakura said, blushing (once more). She was laying it too thick for her own good.

"Well since that's the case, I was thinking…" Grandmother said, and then paused.

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"How about you guys move in with each other?"

"M-m-m-move in?" I asked. At that moment a maid came in with some tea and served us. After that she went out humbly.

"Yes, into a commoner's house!" My grandmother repeated, more confidently than before.

"That's…" Sakura didn't get to finish as I covered her mouth.

"Wonderful!" I exclaimed and, unfortunately, lied.

"Yes, I know!" My grandmother smiled, she looked extremely happy about the complement I gave about her idea.

There was a long silence…

"Actually, I was thinking of letting Mikan move into this mansion. But then…" Grandmother told us.

"But then?" Sakura asked.

"I heard that Nogi's have already done that. We'll look ridiculous if we try to copy them. We MUST SURPASS them!" Grandmother said and stood up, looking like a hero. It seemed like Sakura ignored grandmother's answer, probably thinking that it was lame to even hear the old woman out. I find it lame myself – oh well, surpassing everyone runs through Huyga's blood.

"Besides, commoner's style is in fashion now. I heard that they sleep, eat and store their clothes in the same room!" Grandmother stated.

For me, it wasn't much of a deal as I have already been in a commoner's house. I've been in Luna's, Sonoko's,… But for grandmother, who looked like she never seen such thing, it must have been a wonder how they survived.

"Really? I can't believe it! Is their room that big?" Sakura looked awed. (Notice the word "looked".) Please, she was obviously faking it. Not that I would blame her for not being surprised for real. Who would want to hear about those facts when they just heard that they'll have to move in with their fake boyfriend? Exactly, no one!

"No, I heard it's just as big as our formal dresses wardrobe."

Sakura gasped. "How can they have a place for a table, a bed and an extra bed when it's only enough space for formal dresses? Do they have some kind of magical wardrobe?" Sakura looked like a 5 year old talking about where babies come from.

"I heard that they use something like our nightgown wardrobes to store all of their clothes."

"That's so horrible, yet fascinating!" Sakura beamed.

Oh please Mikan, you're faking it too much… I took a sip of tea. It seemed like only I bothered drinking some.

"I know! So how about you visit your future house tomorrow and decide on a few last details?" Grandmother seemed much more excited than usual.

The whole idea of us moving in together was already absurd, now we had to act like a "just married" couple and decide on "a few last details" of the house? This was going way too far! But… WHAT COULD I DO? It was THE grandmother.  
"Uhm, I'm so sorry, but I'll have to discuss this matter with my parents first." Sakura said, apologetically and drank some tea.

Why didn't I think of that? If her parents say no, then we won't have to move in at all! Oh yeah… Credits again to Mikan!

"Oh, no need. I already talked to your parents on the phone. They seem to be fine with it." Grandmother said, even more happily than before.

I was speechless. How could she be so ahead of me and Sakura? I glanced back at Sakura – she didn't seem surprised.

"Also…" Grandmother started, now looking worried. "Uhm… I know that I can trust you to be careful, but I just want to remind you…" Grandmother seemed hesitant.

"Yes?" Sakura asked and took another sip of tea.

"About getting pregnant before marriage…"

Sakura immediately choked on her tea as she covered her mouth. And then she blushed, this time, I think, for real.

After a long, and very awkward, discussion, it was time for Sakura to go home. I volunteered (yep, that's me) to give her a ride home. As all of us went outside, grandmother gestured Sakura to wait for her. They walked together chatting, with me walking behind. After a small chat, grandmother whispered something in Sakura's ear, Sakura covered her mouth. That was the last thing Grandmother said before saying goodbye to Sakura.

After we passed the gates of the mansion, Sakura showed her true face and started complaining.

"Move in? That's crazy! Your grandmother… she is totally crazy!"

"Hey don't call my grandmother like that! I don't want to move in either but this is to please my grandmother. Besides, it's a part of our deal right? We'll act like we're a couple, and a normal couple would be happy to start living with each other… Get it?"

"Fine… And getting pregnant before marriage? That was just ridiculous!"

There was a silence between us, a silence to put all our thought in place.

After a few minutes, I saw Sakura smile from the corner of my eyes.

"Hey look, a bunny!" She yelled, only loud enough for me to hear.

"Where?" I asked and looked outside, trying to spot a bunny somewhere on the big, lonely road. After a few unsuccessful searches for the bunny, I have realized that she tricked me as she started laughing hysterically.

"Hahaha…. I can't believe it! Hahahaha…"

"Haha, keep laughing." So she found out about me liking bunnies, huh?

The next day, after school, Sakura and I went to what we were supposed to call "our new home". It was a tiny (compared to my mansion) yellow 3-floor house with a tiny garden (compared to the one in my mansion) and a tiny gate (compared to the one in my mansion). The house seemed pretty much finished. Furniture was already decided by grandmother and the carpet floors were all clean, to welcome the new "couple". The only things that were left were the design on walls and our personal belongings.

An interior designer was already waiting for us. Her name is Yura Otonashi – she is pretty famous these days…

"Hello, my name is Otonashi, your interior designer." A young woman greeted us and shook our hands. "Do you like your new home?"

"Yes, It's wonderful, I can't wait to move in!" Sakura smiled. I could feel the slight sarcastic aura in her words. The designer didn't seem to feel it though.

"That's great! Now how about we go visit your rooms where you'll decide what pattern you want for your walls?" She smiled and led us to our rooms, mine was first.

"This is goin' to be your room, Mr. Hyuga. Have you looked at your room design yet?"

"Yes, I have. It's very nice." I replied calmly.

"Have you decided on the walls?" Otonashi asked. Sakura came closer to me.

"How about stripes?" Sakura whispered smirking.

Was she daring me to choose stripes? Ok then, I like stripes anyway.

"I think stripes would be nice." I answered and looked into Sakura's eyes.

"Alright then, should we proceed to the next room?" Ototnashi gestured us to move on.

The room across from mine was Sakura's. Sakura, seeing how small her room was, was speechless. She was probably calculating how much clothes she could store in such a small room.

"How is it, Mrs. Hyuga?" Otonashi asked. Did she think that we were married?

"It's Sakura." Sakura had to correct her

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Otonashi looked like she was going to get fired.

"No, it's ok. I saw my room's design, it really suits me." Sakura comforted Otonashi.

"That's great!" Otonashi exclaimed, probably happy to be forgiven for her mistake. "Have you decided on the design of your walls?"

I looked at Sakura, daring her to choose polka dots.

Sakura looked at me confidently and smirked. "I'll choose polka dot design." She smiled. Otonashi recorded something in a small notebook.

"Actually, there's one more thing." Otonashi said as we walked down to the first floor. She gestured us to go inside the kitchen/dinning room, which still had white walls. "The person who ordered this house for you, asked me to decide on the walls of this room for you, but I think that's it's best to let you decide. The kitchen is the heart of the house, after all."

Sakura and I didn't say a word for a while.

"Stripes!"

"Polka-dots!" we said at the same time.

Sakura, who was probably irritated, pulled me into the restroom, and shut the door behind.

"Let's just choose polka-dots." She said, like she had the right to choose.

"But I want stripes!"

"Polka-dots!"

"Stripes!"

"Polka-dots !"

"Stripes!"

"Polka-dots!"

"Stripes !"

"Polka-dots !"

"Stripes!"

"Arg!" She exploded and went out of the restroom. I followed her. Otonashi was waiting for us in the kitchen/dinning room.

"I think we can find a pattern with both polka-dots and stripes." She said, trying to calm both of us down.

"NO!" We yelled. Otonashi looked like she was attacked by some lions.

"S-s-s-s-s-sorry…" Otonashi said and bowed down.

"We both agreed on orange. I heard that orange makes you hungry." Sakura calmed herself and smiled like nothing happened. Otonashi looked relieved and wrote something down in her small notebook. We said goodbye to each other and parted.

Over 3 days, half of our belongings were moved to the commoner's house and on Sunday, Sakura and I were ready to start "living together". After I went inside my room and started putting pictures of bunnies on my bookshelf, Sakura knocked my door and came in.

"Hey!" She greeted, looking suspiciously happy.

"Hey." I replied, too occupied with putting white bunny pictures in their new place.

"Whatcha doin'?" Sakura asked and came to my side. "Oh, you also put pictures of animals in your room?" she asked.

"Uh-hum." I answered. They are the biggest collection of mine!

"Let me show you my pictures!" Sakura looked excited and pulled my arm to her room.

The walls in front of her bed were filled with pictures of tigers. Yep, those evil creatures! How could she like those animals?

"There's my favorite photo!" she smiled and pointed at the highest picture. I looked up…and was terrified about what I saw. A tiger with a head of a bunny in its jaw!

I was speechless. What an evil picture!

"You like it?" Sakura asked.

I was standing still. Wasn't it obvious that I didn't?

"Good! Cause I have another copy of that picture." She said and took out a human size version of the picture. So many questions popped out in my head: 1)Why did she make such a big copy of the picture? 2)Why did she have to give it to me? and the most important question 3) How could she hold such a big picture (Was she superman or something?)? "Let's put it in your room!" Sakura said and hoped to my room, still holding the picture. (Seriously, some day, I'll have to look for a superman outfit in her closet.) She stuck the picture on the wall in front of my bed and left the room.

After some peaceful hours of sleep, Sakura knocked on my door again.

"Hey, did you receive a box that didn't belong to you?" Sakura asked. "The delivering company must have confused my box for yours." She came in.

"Yep, I left it next to the bed drawer." I said, still lying on the bed.

"Speaking of bed drawers, what did you put inside yours? I just can't think of anything to put inside mine." Sakura asked and walked to my bed drawer.

"Nothing, I don't know what to put inside mine, too." Sakura looked at me like she couldn't believe a word of what I say.  
"Really?" she said and opened my drawer and gasped.

"What?" I asked.

Sakura looked at me angrily. "YOU JERK!" she yelled and slapped me before stomping out of my room. I heard a loud thud outside.

I leaned over to my bed drawer and looked at what Sakura discovered.

…

Wait!

…

That's…

…

Condoms? I took them out and found a paper underneath. It read: "Just in case. *wink wink* Love, grandmother." Not again! I stood up and walked to Sakura's room.

"Hey, it's not my fault, my grandmother left them here for me. Look!" I said and knocked her door.

"Shut up, don't use your grandmother to cover for you." She yelled. I didn't say anything back and stayed there, waiting for her to open up.

After a few minutes, Mikan came out. Holding a pack of condoms in her left hand and a piece of paper in her right hand.

"Look at this." She said and handed me the paper. It read: "My onii-chan is a very irresponsible person, please help him out. *wink wink* Love, Aoi Hyuga. PS: your future sister-in-law." I signed. It was SOOOO grandmother and Aoi to do something like that.

"So we're good?" I asked.

"I guess. And yeah… Sorry for slapping you." She said and went back to her room.

The whole morning was so tiring, I decided to skip lunch. By the time I woke up, it was time for dinner. I went down to kitchen/dining room, planning to make some instant noodles. I just couldn't ask Sakura to cook; she'll probably make something like the "spaghetti" again. But what I saw amazed me: Sakura sitting at the table with two plates of spaghetti waiting for me.

"For me?" I asked. I couldn't believe my own eyes!

"Who else? Easter bunny?" she said sarcastically.

"Thanks." I sat down. But just to make sure, I asked: "Is it edible?"

"It is this time."

"Alright than. Bon appétit."

"Wait!"

"What?"

"First, let's discuss something."

"What is it?"

"Just some small details to make sure that we won't have to argue everyday. From now on, no matter how much I hate it, we're on the same boat, and therefore we're comrades."

"Alright."

"First, somewhere in the middle of the month, I maybe a little cranky… due to certain reasons… I'll apologize right now just in case."

"Ok. I'm usually very hyper in the morning, be careful."

"Next, house chores. We need to split them up. There're two reasons for that: one – I can't just do all of them. It's unfair and tiring for me. If we split them up, your grandmother will think of us as a nice and friendly couple and you as a young man trying to help the one he loves. It benefits for both of us." I have to admit one thing – Sakura sure uses her brain cells well.

"That sounds pretty good. So what will I do?"

"I was thinking. Since I know how to cook edible things – instant noodles don't count – I'll do the cooking and you will do the dishes. Ok?"

"Yep." Wait a second – she COOKS?

"I do the laundry and you do the floors and stuff. We will both maintain our rooms clean on our own. REMEMBER! And the garden – you cut down weeds and I water the plants. Uhm… I guess that's all."

"No, there's still buying groceries."

"Uhm, we'll split that up. If we see anything missing, we'll just go buy it. But remember to write it down on a paper and stick it on the refrigerator, so I'll know what to buy and not to buy. We'll just use the money provided by your grandmother. Don't feel like using mine… since I have already sacrificed A LOT! OK?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not, unless you don't want to eat my spaghetti."

"Fine, now can we eat?"

"Bon appétit." Sakura said and started eating. I followed her suit. The spaghetti was more then just edible, it was delicious. From now on I could rely on Sakura to fill my stomach. Maybe, this living together thing is not that bad…

The whole week went through normally, except I couldn't sleep at night. Was it because I didn't get used to my new bed or was it the scary picture Sakura gave me? I had no idea. But one person might know. Tsubasa Andou, my personal psychologist. I dialed his number.

"Tsubasa, help."

After a few minutes, the door bell rang. I opened the door for a tall raven headed dude. Tsubasa Andou is a very handsome and rich guy. His family is, at least. Unfortunately, he's not his parent's successor, thus he has to make his own money (which, I tell you, is not that little). Good news for you ladies out there – he is still available!

"Hey, Tsubasa."`

"Yo, kiddo. How's it going? I heard that you moved in with your fiancée." He seemed happy about this news.

I let him in the house. And we both went upstairs.

"She's not my fiancée, grandmother's just exaggerating."

"Well, in our world, once you date a rich and cute girl, you marry that same rich and cute girl. At least, that's what usually happens." Sakura is not even my real girlfriend, for God's sake!

"True, but our case is kinda different…"

"Really, tell me."

"Not yet." I can't just tell him that we are not a couple…

"So what's your problem?"

"I can't sleep."

"Well… I can see that by looking at your face… So, is that all?"

"Is there supposed to be more?"

"No, I'm just surprised. I mean, you usually have some complicated issues about one of your commoner girlfriends..."

"Now I have a rich girlfriend, circumstances changed." I said and let him in my room. "So what do you think is wrong?"

"Well, for starters, I think that picture." He said and pointed at the huge picture that Sakura gave me.

"Oh, that one? Sakura gave it to me."

"Your girlfriend? Does she know that you like bunnies?"

"She does… WAIT! Did she do this on purpose? Oh, she's so dead!" I said and ran to her room. "SAKURAAAAAAA!" I yelled as I open her door and let myself in.

"What the hell? At least knock, will you?" Sakura asked from her bed.

"Did you do that on purpose?" I asked. I shouldn't have stopped hating her just because she made me meals. She is two-faced, after all…

"Did what on purpose?" She looked at me with those puppy eyes… STOP pretending, woman!

"Don't act innocent in front of me. Did you give me that damn picture on purpose?"

"Oh, you mean the tiger and the bunny?" She said calmly and pointed at the picture of the tiger and bunny (the same one as in my room) on her wall.

"Yeah! Because of it, I couldn't sleep for a whole week!"

"I thought that it would be nice to share a photo, since we are supposed to be a couple and stuff. And that was the only picture that had both the tiger and the bunny together, so I thought we can both have that picture. I never thought that it would harm you! Really…"

"You could have just taken a picture of us together!" And I thought she was smart…

"We don't have a picture of both of us together, dumbass. We are a FAKE couple, remember?"

"Fake?" I heard a voice in the hallway.

It was Tsubasa.


	8. Chapter 8

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Hello, sorry for making you wait. **

**For the past few weeks, some readers un-favorited me and I was wondering why. So, I won't ask you to not un-favorite me but if you think that there's something wrong with my fanfic, please let me know so I may improve myself. Thank you. **

**There are a lot more questions but I don't want to make this too long. There's the question about having a gay couple in my fanfic and the one about re-uploading chapter 1. I think that they're both in my profile. **

**Chapter 8 coming through! Enjoy.**

**Previous:**

"Did you do that on purpose?" I asked. I shouldn't have stopped hating her just because she made me meals. She is two-faced, after all…

"Did what on purpose?" She looked at me with those puppy eyes… STOP pretending, woman!

"Don't act innocent in front of me. Did you give me that damn picture on purpose?"

"Oh, you mean the tiger and the bunny?" She said calmly and pointed at the picture of the tiger and bunny (the same one as in my room) on her wall.

"Yeah! Because of it, I couldn't sleep for a whole week!"

"I thought that it would be nice to share a photo, since we are supposed to be a couple and stuff. And that was the only picture that had both the tiger and the bunny together, so I thought we can both have that picture. I never thought that it would harm you! Really…"

"You could have just taken a picture of us together!" And I thought she was smart…

"We don't have a picture of both of us together, dumbass. We are a FAKE couple, remember?"

"Fake?" I heard a voice in the hallway.

It was Tsubasa.

"Oh, so that's how it is…" Tsubasa exclaimed after listening to our story. We were all sitting in the guest room, sipping some tea.

"I kinda expected a different reaction…" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we, psychologists, have heard all kinds of stories from our patients and I tell you, they are not as sane as you guys," Tsubasa answered calmly.

"So, will you keep it a secret?" This was important. If the secret is to be blown out, we… I mean, I will be D-E-A-D!

"I guess… You're my patient after all. We, psychologists, don't leak out personal information of our patient." Tsubasa said, drinking the cup of tea till the end. Then he put a cup on the table, and asked: "Now, to the real problem. I heard you have no shared pictures. Is that true?"

"Well… Mikan and I weren't that close before. We barely even talked." I answered.

"I was thinking of photoshop…" Mikan exclaimed.

"No, no, no, no. No Photoshop!" Tsubasa interrupted Sakura.

"Hey! Why not?" She asked.

"Photoshop looks fake."

"Ya know… It is supposed to BE fake…" Mikan raised an eyebrow again.

"What I'm trying to say is, how about you just go out there and make some real pictures together?" Mikan and I stared at him. I was puzzled. Why would I go out somewhere with this evil fairy?

"You should make some nice memories together, too. In case someone asks, of course… And luckily, I have just the thing that can help." Tsubasa said and took out two pieces of paper. "Behold… THE HAUNTED HOUSE TICKETS!"

"Haunted house?" I raised a brow.

"Yes! Haunted house is a great place for some … BODY BONDING! Also, you can go around the amusement park there and take some pictures of you together."

"Where did you get these tickets, Mr. Psychologist?" Sakura asked suspiciously and drank some tea.

"I was going to go with my friend, but she didn't want to, so…" Tsubasa said and a few fake tear drops rolled down his cheeks. Looked very dramatic…

"Poor you, getting rejected..." Sakura said and gave him a tissue, which Tsubasa didn't take (of course).

"So… will you go?" Tsubasa asked, back to his happy face. Seriously, someday he should become an actor.

"Uhm… no!" Sakura answered.

"Me neither." I said.

"Are you all scared?" Tsubasa smirked. Hey!

"No… not me at least. I don't know about the "bunny" boy though." Sakura said and glanced at me. Mockingly…

"I'm not scared, unlike the tigress here." I said and glanced at her back. What kind of men would just sit there and let his fake girlfriend say that he's scared of haunted houses (even though it's true)? Absolutely NO MEN!

"I said, I'm not scared!" Sakura said and glared at me.

"Oh yeah?" I glared back. Oh it's on!

"Oh yeah." Sakura said. This is war!

Sakura looked back at Tsubasa and grabbed the tickets.

"I'm going." She said and turned to me. "Are you going to chicken out and not go, bunny boy?" she smirked.

"No way!" I said and grabbed one of the tickets from her hand. "I'm going, too."

"Great! This ticket will be expired tomorrow. Now, if you excuse me… can I go home yet?" Tsubasa asked.

"Sure." Sakura said and lead Tsubasa to the door. "Goodbye!" she said, smiling. (Would she ever be polite to me?)

The raven dude drove off in his Bentley.

After I cleaned up the tea cups, I went up to my room and started for the shower. I came into the bathroom and turned on my favorite song: Only you.

"_Only you" _"Only you…" I sang along and took the shower as a microphone.

"_can make this world seem right" _"can make this world seem right" I bowed down._  
"Only you" _"Only you-arg" the shower suddenly turned on and sent tons of water in my throat. It was even in the massage mode! Ouch… my throat!_  
"can make the darkness bright" _I didn't sing this lines 'cause I needed to catch my breath after the super attack of the shower._  
"Only you" _"Only you…" I did a flip…

"_and you alone" _"MY BUTT!" I yelled after I slipped and fell on my butt. I stood up to turn off the phone.

Then, I heard some noises from behind the doors. I rapped a towel around my waist and went out to see Sakura on the floor, laughing hysterically.

"What are you laughing about?" I was concerned… It was like she had a laughing disorder…

"No-o-thing. Hahahahaha…" She couldn't stop laughing yet…

"Uhum." I said. She was definitely lying!

"I just saw my neighbor singing in the shower and then trying to do a flip. He tripped. Hahahahaha…"

"How dare you peek on other people while they're taking a shower? And a men, too…"

"Oh, did I say "he". Sorry, I meant "she"."

"A naked women in the bath? Where?" I said and tried to look for the nearest window. Sakura signed.

"You're unbelievable." And she went away.

After a long (and painful) shower, I lay down on my bed and had a nice sleep. (Credits go to Tsubasa Andou, who got rid of the annoying picture in front of my bed. It was sure the cause of my insomnia.)

The next day was Monday. Everything – school, house choirs, etc. – was normal (too normal…). In the afternoon, Sakura and I drove to the amusement park. The place wasn't crowded, probably because it was Monday. Most of the costumers were little pre-school kids and their parents.

Strange thing was the fact that everyone was staring at us. I came up with 3 possible reasons (so far).

_Welcome to "Who wants to be a millionair". Dear reader, you have answer 14 questions correctly. This is your last question:_

_What made Nastume Hyuga, the heir of the Huyga family, and his girlfriend stand out of the crowd in the amusement park?_

_Natsume looked awesome_

_Natsume's car looked awesome_

_Both of the above, since both of them are true_

Sakura and I first went around the amusement park and had some ice cream. Sakura chose chocolate, while I chose strawberry – my No. 1 favorite! (No. 2 is carrots with cream!)

The mood seemed pretty peaceful. I guess Sakura was tired of all he childish pranks already (or was she just too tired after moving in?). We took exactly one picture somewhere in the park, got it instantaneously (important point for the future: smile from the first shot or you'll have to re-take the picture). Then we walked around for some time and talked about everyday things (Ex: Nice weather, huh? Oh yeah, it is.).

Everything was very fine… until it was time for the haunted house. Sakura and I went inside the haunted house and I felt her shake (or was it me?).

"I thought you weren't scared." I said mockingly.

"What about you?" She looked at me and raised her arm, which I grabbed by instinct. After realizing what I did, I released her arm and went ahead.

As I went further into the haunted house, I heard Sakura's footsteps behind me (or at least I think they're hers.). Suddenly the floor started shaking and the footsteps became more frequent. Clowns popped out of the ground, vampires were drinking blood and… well, every scary thing you can imagine. In a few moments, I was grabbing Sakura's shirt and she was grabbing mine.

"Huyga! Don't let go of me!" She yelled.

"You, don't let go of me!" I yelled.

"Let's get out of here fast."

"You think I don't know that?" I said and tried finding a way out, but unfortunately bumped into a wall. "Ouch. That's not the way out!" I said and tried touching the other sides until I came across something un-wall-ish. I turned around and came across… a ghost!

"" I screamed and hugged Sakura. That's when I felt something soft pressing my chest. Very soft…

Who AM I KIDDING WITH? I'm in the middle of nowhere in a haunted house and I'm thinking of something soft! I'm going mental because of scary things!

"Hey! HEY! Hyuga, are you listening to me? I said let go and let's find a way out!" Sakura said, trying to push me away from her. That's when I snapped back to reality and let go of her.

"You're right, let's look for a way out." I said still grabbing her shirt.

"Alright, now let's think rationally. You just touched these two walls right? She asked and pointed.

"Yep." I said, not even knowing which directions she was pointing at… C'mon, it was totally dark, and I just bumped into a ghost!

"And they're not the way out… We came through this hallway." She said and pointed at another direction. "So the only way left is here." She pointed again.

"Alright! But just to make sure…" I said and moved behind her. "You go first."

It wasn't that spooky after that. I mean, there was some floor shaking and scary noises but nothing visual, so far. As I was starting to relax… ANOTHER WHITE GHOST CAME DOWN FROM NOWHERE!

NOW SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY SCREAM! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sakura screamed, and "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I screamed, and "KIHIHIHIHIHIHI!" the ghost laughed and… well, there were a lot of sounds.

"You go first!" Sakura hugged me like I was her life line.

"No, you go first!" I yelled. I am not risking my life anymore.

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"Alright, let's solve this the manly way shall we?" I said.

"OK, but don't complain if you lose."

We prepared our karate positions, and: "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!" I had paper and she had scissors. And so I lost.

"Fine, I'll lead." I said and grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

After around 10 long minutes (with monsters, hollows, scary pumpkins and… OMG, all of them were so scary!), we somehow got out of the haunted house. FINALLY! Some credit goes to Sakura, who despite of this horrible haunted house, managed to think RATIONALLY!

"Thank god, we're finally out!" I said. This was really one heck of a haunted house experience.

"Yeah, that's great but…" she said and raised the hand that I was still holding on to.

"Oh, sorry." I said and let go. Suddenly realizing that I was holding her hand for about 10 minutes made me blush and I looked away to hide the red on my cheeks.

"Oh yeah!" she said and hit her hand like she just figured something out. "While we were in the haunted house… I felt some abs… You're training, huh? Nice!"

"Well, …" I said, and tried to think of a compliment to say back, since she has been so nice to me in the haunted house… Oh yes, that… "I felt B cups… Not bad either!"

Sakura looked at me, and then… "YOU JERK!" Sakura said and slapped me. Everyone on the road looked at us. I smiled sheepishly back at them.

Mikan Sakura stomped into the sunset with me following her, trying to explain that I meant it as a compliment.

The next day, we went to school like nothing happened. And everything looked like nothing happened, except… well, my left cheek was red.

That's when I heard her voice in the parking lot. Her beautiful elegant voice behind me. "Natsume-san, long time no see!"

**Shizuka Yamanouchi, my childhood friend…**


	9. Chapter 9

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Hello, sorry for making you wait. **

**Chapter 9's here! Enjoy.**

**Previous:**

The next day, we went to school like nothing happened. And everything looked like nothing happened, except… well, my left cheek was red.

That's when I heard her voice in the parking lot. Her beautiful elegant voice behind me. "Natsume-san, long time no see!"

**Shizuka Yamanouchi, my childhood friend…**

"Yamanouchi, how have you been?"

I started looking closely to her. It has been so long since we met each other… She looked even prettier than she did before. With her long hair till her waist, those cute red lips, and … MAN, she had a great body!

"I'm fine… Feeling really well these days… You look great yourself!"

"What are you doing here?" Yamanouchi was supposed be in Germany right now. Her family is doing some fashion business there

"Well, I decided to transfer here and see how it goes… I missed Japan so much…"

"Where are you staying?"

"I'm living in our old mansion… The one you visited before. By the way, it just got remodeled."

"Cool!" She moved back… Maybe, I will visit her someday.

"Uhum." Sakura coughed. I don't remember her having a sore throat yesterday or today…

"Oh, you seem to have sore throat. Here you go… " Yamanouchi took out one of her coughing medicine from her bag.

She was always a caring friend, she always looked after my things, and we played a lot with each other back when we were small.

Sakura shook her head. "Uhumhum." Sakura coughed again and looked at me.

"Oh, you want mine. Good thing I brought some." I took out my coughing medicine. I had a sore throat since the haunted house incident. (She also screamed a lot in the haunted house… Must have been the haunted house…)

Sakura shook her head once more and coughed again. "Uhumhumhum."

"What? You want both of them? Come on, stop being greedy…" I said. She is not only two-faced, she is now also a greedy old hag?

Sakura hit her head.

"Headache?" Yamanouchi asked.

Sakura tore out some hair.

"Mental? Mental hospital?" I guessed.

Sakura hit her head and tore out some hair.

"Mental hospital and headache… Oh, Mental Headache Hospital!" I figured out. Well, it was an easy puzzle!

Sakura signed while staring at me… And then she looked at Yamanouchi and smiled, "Hi, you must be Natsume's friend. I'm really glad to see you. Let me introduce myself, I'm Natsume's…"

"You're not Natsume, I'm Natsume. You're Mikan Sakura." I said. How dumb can she get? And she calls herself the smart one in the house!

"I really give up, meet ya in class…" Sakura said and went away. WHAT IS UP WITH HER?

"She was so real, so sincere. Not at all fake…" I was talking to Tsubasa on the cell phone. It was after school. School was so fun today, since Yamanouchi came back from Germany.

Speaking of which, Mikan went home first… She looked like she was mad at something. Well, who cares about her, she has never cared about me…

"You're talking about Yamanouchi's shoes, right?"

"Si (C). And that's not Spanish for "Yes", it's her cup size." I said. Seriously, they were huge! And that is what makes her so damn HOT!

"Uuuuh, man. You hit a jackpot! So what did she say?" I heard him snapping his fingers.

"She asked me to have dinner with her. Tonight…" Yamanouchi reserved a table at a restaurant in Harada hotel (which is obviously a 5-star hotel).

"Man, that's huge!"

"I know! Awesome right? I am totally going there… "

"You are gonna go there with Mikan-chan?" Since when did Sakura become Mikan-chan?

"Are you kidding me? It's a dinner date and I'll be going with my fake girlfriend? No way in hell! Besides, the faster I find a love interest the faster I can get away from Sakura, remember? I'll have fun AND I'll try to flirt with Yamanouchi. It's a win-win thing, you know…"

"You sure became smart, Natsume. I like it. Just make sure you don't do anything embarrassing, like…"

I interrupted him. "I won't. I'm the all-famous Natsume Hyuga, what can possibly happen?"

"HYUGA!" Sakura yelled from the other end of the phone.

"What?" I opened my eyes. Who dared to disturb my sleep? And why did she call me by phone… She could have shouted out from her room…

"Where are you?" Sakura asked…

I stood up and looked around. I was … well… it looked like I was not at home… In fact, the room looked like a hotel room.

"I think… I'm in a hotel." I looked at the bed sheets; there was the name of the hotel. "I'm in Harada hotel."

"Get back home RIGHT NOW!"

"I'll just drive to school. Just catch a taxi or something… See you there…" I always keep a spare uniform in my locker.

"NO WAY! You are going to listen to me this time, and YOU ARE DRIVING HOME!" Sakura shouted at me from the other end.

"Why?" Sakura sounded terrified..

"EMERGENCY!" Was the house on fire? Was the house robbed?

"I'll be right there in a minute." I hung up.

I wore my clothes as fast as possible (which I found on the floor), and then went down and was about to pay for the room… but it was already paid…

When I came back, the house looked just fine… except for the fact that the front door it was crowded by journalists, and it was obviously impossible to get through them…

My phone rang. It was Sakura.

"Hey, go through the back door." She said and hung up. I did what she said.

"Hey." I said as I came in. Sakura was standing in front of me with her hands crossed. Looking like my mother.

"Explain yourself." She said angrily. The way she looked at me and said those words was exactly like when my mom found out I ate the chocolate cake at night. Except, she looked more sad and more… hurt.

"Huh?" What did I do?"

"EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" Sakura said and threw paper at me. It was today's newspaper.

I looked at the front page. The title said "A rich gentlemAn or a molester?"

What unfortunate kid from our rich society got busted this time, I thought and looked at the picture below the title (which was as large as my hand). There was a man, standing there and suppressing a woman on the wall… WOW, this man is in deep trouble… But, man, did he have awesome hair. All raven and messy.

Wait a minute…

Isn't that man…

ME?

I read the text under the picture: Natsume Hyuga, the heir of the Huyga Corporation, was physically harassing one of his classmates, Shizuka Yamanouchi, in 5-star Harada Hotel.

HOW COME?

I opened the page with the article. The article read:

_Yesterday, X/X/2010, Natsume Hyuga tried molesting one of his classmates, Shizuka Yamanouchi in Harada Hotel. Mr. X (Anonymous) was, by chance, living across from their room's window. Mr. X took the picture above just before Ms. Yamanouchi escaped…_

_By the words of several workers in the Harada hotel (whose names will not be published due to privacy reasons), Mr. Natsume Hyuga and his girl friend went into the hotel at about 10 past. The girl friend identity has been found as well__. She is Shizuka Yamanouchi, the daughter of Mr. Yamanouchi – one of his large companies broke down this month in Germany. _

_They together have booked a deluxe room on the 10__th__ floor, and went to there together straight away. One of the workers on the 10__th__ floor said that Mr. Hyuga was pulling her arm into the elevator, but it seemed like they were just playing around. They did put "Don't disturb" on the door.. _

_At that time, Mr. X (anonymous), who was a customer in Harada Hotel, was staying at a room with a view to the other building of Harada hotel, including the view to the room in which Mr. Hyuga was staying in. He said that around that time, he was just looking at the window, and he accidentally saw a horrible scene: a girl was suppressed on the wall by a man. Mr. X thought it was just prank, until it seemed that the girl didn't enjoy the time at all. Mr. X thought of calling the police, but he took picture instead in case if the guy will run away, so he can talk to the police later. We have got the authority to publish this picture above._

_Yamanouchi representative has said: "Our mistress has managed to escape from the room before anything happens. She is currently recovering from her shock… We are really disappointed in Mr. Natsume Hyuga, who was, and will not be longer, a respectable man. We shall not forgive this behavior, and we demand a full explanation from Hyuga family about why did he allow himself to do such a horrible pathetic thing. We will give the case to the judge the next day in case Mr. Hyuga doesn't explain himself properly." _

_We are still waiting for the response from the Hyuga family. Read our tomorrow's edition for the full version of this case. _

"That can't be me" I defended myself. "I mean, I was having dinner with Yamanouchi, and then I drank some champagne and then I…" That's when I realized something.

"Yes, you woke up in Harada Hotel, didn't you?"

"But, I don't remember anything…"

"Just because you don't remember doesn't mean that nothing happened! You could have been drunk!" Sakura shouted, her eyes looked watery.

"But…"

"Butts are for shaking." Sakura interrupted, a tear fell on her cheek and she immediately wiped it off. I wanted to say sorry but my throat was dry.

"I'll go to school." Sakura said after a few minutes. "You stay at home and do not get out of the house, don't open the curtains and don't pick up your phone unless you know who's calling. There's some food inside the refrigerator, enough for you to survive till I'm back. Don't go online, basically don't turn on the computer at all. Stay safe." Sakura finished her lecture and went out in her uniform. I heard journalists get louder; she was confronting them on her own.

My phone kept ringing for the whole morning. By lunch time, everyone stopped calling (probably because it was their lunch break). I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I took out some left over spaghetti and put it into the microwave. When I was about to have my first bite of spaghetti, my phone rang again. Seriously, those people were getting annoying!

"Hey! Stop bothering me. I'm trying to eat!" I shouted as I picked up the phone (sorry Sakura).

"Natsume?" I heard a very familiar voice.

"Grandmother?" Oh no!

"NATSUME! Of all time to get in trouble, it has to be now." Grandmother sounded angry.

"I'm sorry."

"An apology isn't enough. Ruka is coming back the day after tomorrow and you're here with a scandal! Good thing that Yamanouchi didn't get hurt. The article said that she ran away right after you started acting strange. I already called the Yamanouchi family to apologize. They won't even speak to me. To me. Can you believe it?" Grandmother seemd to care about her reputation more than Yamanouchi's well being.

"Wait… Ruka is coming back the day after tomorrow?" She never mentioned that to me.

"Oh. Did I forget to tell you? Well, I am getting old. More importantly, have you spoken to Mikan yet? She must be very sad right now." I was going to say that she wouldn't care ('cause we are a fake couple) but then I remembered how sad she looked. She did care.

"Don't worry, grandmother. I talked to her already." I lied.

"Good. Good bye."

"Good bye, grandmother." And she hung up.

After a while of doing nothing, I decided to call Yamanouchi.

"Hello?" Yamanouchi answered from the other end.

"Hey, it's me, Natsume, but before you hang up the phone, please just hear me out. I'm sorry, I really am. Whatever I did that night, I didn't mean it. In fact, I don't even remember what happened. Please forgive me." I said as fast as I could.

"I thought we were friends. I trusted you…" Yamanouchi started crying. "You said you wanted to talk to me in private, I thought 'why not' and went with you to the hotel… How could you, Natsume?"

"I'm sorr…" But before I could finish, Yamanouchi hung up.

Sakura came back in the afternoon. She looked tired and refused to cook dinner for me. After I ate some other things she left me in the morning, I went up to her room.

"Sakura, can I come in?" I asked and knocked on her door. She didn't answer. The door wasn't locked so I let myself in.

"Hey." I greeted. Sakura was reading a book on her bed. She looked at me and sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten drunk, well… I think that's what happened. I'm usually better at handling alcohol. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this caused you." Sakura kept on ignoring me.

"Hey! Are you even listening?" I said and snatched the book out of her hands. I just couldn't help it. Here I was, apologizing and she just ignored me.

My face was very close to hers but it didn't matter. I was too angry. And that's when Mikan's eyes opened wide like she just realized something. She snatched today's newspaper from her desk and looked at the picture of me and Yamanouchi in a very awkward position. After a while, Sakura smiled.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She was acting strange.

"Oh nothing." She smiled like she was crazy. After a few seconds she came back to Earth. Or so I thought… "What are you doing in my room? Get out of here and go to sleep, it's…" Sakura glanced at the clock. "8 o'clock! You shouldn't be up that late!" Without further adieu, Sakura pulled her blanket on and closed her eyes. Did she brush her teeth already?

Too terrified of her actions, I ran out.

She was acting suspicious. Very suspicious…


	10. Chapter 10

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Hello, sorry for making you wait. I was too busy studying these few weeks. I tried to write a good crime chapter but I don't think I'll ever be Conan Doyle so here's the best I could write. Enjoy!**

**Previous:**

"What's wrong?" I asked. She was acting strange.

"Oh nothing." She smiled like she was crazy. After a few seconds she came back to Earth. Or so I thought… "What are you doing in my room? Get out of here and go to sleep, it's…" Sakura glanced at the clock. "8 o'clock! You shouldn't be up that late!" Without further adieu, Sakura pulled her blanket on and closed her eyes. Did she brush her teeth already?

Too terrified of her actions, I ran out.

She was acting suspicious. Very suspicious…

As I brushed my teeth, I heard the door of the house creak softly and a car driving away. Did Sakura go somewhere? I entered her room. A figure was in the bed, covered with a blanket. I walked to the bed and pulled off the blanket. A dummy… That's so mature of you, Sakura! I never thought you would think of such a classic prank…

I sighed and walked back to my room. I need to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a tiring day.

The next day, I waited for Sakura to drive to school first. Then I brushed my teeth and prepared to go to school, too.

"You can do this man! You will clear things up with the press and will end this whole scandal. YES, YOU CAN!" I told myself and drove to school. From the alternative gate, of course…

No one was welcoming me at school that day. There were no fan girls standing in a line to reserve a parking space for me. There were no friends that stood next to their cars to talk to me. I stood there all alone… Totally abandoned by the society…

When I walked down the hallways, people glared at me. Some started whispering things about me to one another. Just when I was about to yell at them, a boy ran in:

"Yamanouchi-san has just asked to talk in private with Sakura-sama. She led her to the Northern forest. Everyone, let's go!" the boy shouted and led everyone to the Northern Forest.

I ran after the crowd too. What was Sakura planning this time?

"OK. This is as far as I can lead you. I have no idea where they went afterwards.", the boy said as he stopped near the Northern Forest. The students were about to dismiss when one of them shouted.

"Hey, listen up. Let's split up and look for them in the forest." Everyone shouted in agreement.

"Alright. Let's splits into teams. Team A will be in charge of recruiting more members for the investigation. Team B will look from the school walls to the walls of Mr. Bear's territory. Team C will look from the walls of Mr. Bear's territory to the edge of the forest. Let's go-go-GO!"

The students split up as fast as a lightning and after a few seconds, I was standing alone… Again, abandoned…

After an hour, the group came out of the forest, empty handed. The student that was yelling before stood in the front.

"Progress report!" He said.

"Team A reporting: we have found 20 more students volunteering for the investigation. 10 of them have been caught by the teachers because the break was over 50 minutes ago. The other 10 have formed a strategy group for more scientific research for Sakura-sama. We have built a secret base with 50 location devices and 5 maps of the Northern forest." Group A said in unison.

"Have you found any place where Sakura-sama might be kept by Yamanouchi-san?" the leader asked.

"No, commander!"

"Where did you get the money to buy location devices?"

"We used the Sakura-sama fan club's budget."

"How dare you use our budget without our permission!" some boys were yelling.

"The budget was over 10 million dollars, it had to be spent." The A team defended.

"But…" one of the boys didn't get to finish because the leader interrupted them.

"Don't complain. This is for Sakura-sama's sake! Remember our motto." He said.

"SAKURA-SAMA IS NUMBER 1, SAKURA-SAMA IS NUMBER 2 AND SAKURA-SAMA IS EVERY OTHER NUMBER IN OUR HEARTS!" everyone shouted in unison.

That's when I realized that all of the followers were guys; all of them were different ages. I spotted 10 elementary boys, 13 middle school guys, 16 guys my age, 8 guys as old as my dad (What were the security guards doing here?) and 8 guys who were twice as old as my dad (What were the gardeners doing here?). But they seemed to be all the same. United under one cause... And the fact that they were all wearing "I Love Mikan Sakura" T-shirts… Sakura was sure loved!

"Alright. Team B!" the leader yelled.

"Sir, we have searched the whole area but found nothing." Team B's representative spoke in a very low voice.

"It's alright. We all know that team B tried their best." The leader cheered them up. Everyone else clapped their hands in approval.

"Team C" The leader shouted.

"We haven't found anything but Number 2 smelled Sakura-sama's perfume." Everyone started to clap but the representative of Team C continued in a very low voice. "It led to Mr. Bear's territory."

…

Everyone gasped.

Mr. Bear was a giant bear that lived in the Northern Forest. He had his own territory, and no sane person ever entered his territory.

Sakura was probably there. What was she doing there?

_Welcome to "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" You have just won 1 million dollars. Let's see if you can answer the bonus question: _

_What was Mikan Sakura doing in Mr. Bear's territory? _

_Drinking tea with Mr. Bear_

_Flirting with Mr. Bear _

_Flirting with Yamanouchi_

_All of the above_

_Choose wisely!_

I walked into the forest as I dialed Tsubasa's number.

"Yo, man. How do you seduce a man in a Mr. Bear suit?" I asked.

I was one of the little number of people who knew the real identity of Mr. Bear. He was the school owner, a man who was obsessed with bears.

"That's simple. You only have to where the Mrs. Bear suit. Don't worry, the suit comes with the special fake boobs function."

"Do you have the suit?"

Tsubasa had some really weird costumes (he liked collecting outfits and stuff).

"No. Sorry, man. I sold it for the ducky suit already." He said.

"Then how do I seduce Mr. Bear?" I asked.

"The best thing to do now is… IMPROVISE!" He said and hung up.

I guess improvising it will be.

…

After 30 minutes, I had a pair of paper bear ears, a paper triangle nose, flowers in my hair, a brown ball stuck to my butt like a tail and my whole body covered in mud. I didn't look that bad for a Mrs. Bear, I think…

I spotted Mr. Bear in his territory and 2 shadows in his house. Perhaps, Sakura and Yamanouchi…

I looked over myself. Mascara… check. Fake boobs… check. Girly fake nails… check. I'm ready!

"Hey, handsome." I said in the flirtiest way I could think of. "Do you, by any chance have some honey." PUPPY EYES MODE: ON! "I'm so so so hungry." I crossed my fingers behind my back. His face was red and he seemed speechless.

"I'll be right back." He said and ran off.

Uhm…

… That was easier than I thought.

I sneaked into the territory and started looking around. It won't be long before Mr. Bear comes back with honey, and I totally don't want to sit on his lap and eat with him. He was probably in the house, so I decided to check the garden first.

I walked on a pretty road made of stones that led to a small picnic booth. And there they were – Sakura and Yamanouchi-san – drinking tea. I hid in the bushes near there. They didn't seem to talk at all.

Well, that was a waste of my time…

I was about to leave when I heard a small clank of the china and Sakura's voice: "First of all, I'd like to apologize for my boyfriend's supposedly bad behavior towards you."

I turned around and hid behind a bush. Staying a little bit wouldn't hurt, right?

"You shouldn't be apologizing for what you haven't done yourself." Yamanouchi said and took another sip of tea.

"Then Natsume-kun doesn't have to apologize either, right?"

That took me by surprise.

"What do you mean?" Yamanouchi replied.

"What I mean is that Natsume-kun didn't do whatever was written in that article. Someone definitely set him up…"

"Are you saying that I did it?" Yamanouchi burst in anger.

"I never said that, you came up with that on your own. But indeed, you're the one I suspect the most."

Silence

"I looked at this picture a lot yesterday." She said and took out the newspaper, probably the yesterday's issue. "And I realized something."

Another silence

"Natsume-kun's eyebrows look one centimeter longer in this picture. Believe it or not… HIS EYEBROWS ARE SUPERSHORT!" Sakura pointed out. I felt a dagger stab my heart. Sure my eyebrows were short, but she didn't have to point it out like that. I'm very sensitive when it comes to my brows. "I know it might sound funny, but that wasn't the only thing that I found out last night…" So that's where she was last night. While I was trying to close my eyes and sleep at 8pm, she was somewhere having an exciting investigation. And she just had to leave me alone!

Yamanouchi-san's face got a little paler than usual.

"Yesterday, I talked to the receptionist of the Harada Hotel. I asked him who has reserved the room that you were supposedly assaulted in. The lad seemed to be hesitant at first… But once I gave him some encouragement, you know what I mean…" Sakura rubbed her thumb against her other fingers and winked. Money, definitely! "… he said that the room you were assaulted in AND the room that Mr. X was supposedly in were both reserved under one name: Yamanouchi Shizuka." I almost fell when I heard the name. I couldn't believe it. My childhood friend betrayed me!

"There has to be some mistake, Natsume-kun said that he reserved the room himself."

"Listen and listen carefully, Yamanouchi. Right now, whatever you're blabbering means nothing to me. I have enough evidence to prove that you're the one behind this and whether you like it or not, you're going down!"

Yamanouchi stared at Mikan for a while, and then she finally said: "How much do you know then, Ms. Sakura?"

"Well, I couldn't track down Mr. X… But I know how you did this whole thing…" Sakura paused a little. "You probably had someone disguise as Natsume-kun and photographer in the other room. After that was done, you just had to invite Natsume-kun for dinner and get him drunk… The poor guy must have a very low tolerance of alcohol, I suppose,…" (HEY, don't insult me behind my back!) "… and then you could easily get him into the room. When Natsume woke up the next day, the newspapers were printed and the story was published on the front page. Am I correct?" Sakura said.

I was still in shock. My childhood friend betrayed me. My childhood friend, the one that has C cup boobs and a pretty face betrayed me!

Yamaguchi's face was getting paler and paler by each second.

"That's right; I set this whole thing up. I was the one who booked the both rooms for that incident, and I was the one who hired both the photographer and the make-up artist. It was me!"! she said as she pointed at herself. "But it was their fault to begin with. They… they took away our leading spot in shoes industry. Why did they have to poke their nose into our business like that? They just whoosh and took the first spot. So I thought, "if I could make Hyuga's name go down, the Hyuga Shoes will go down right after". But that doesn't matter anymore. Not to you, at least… The news has already spread, and the Hyuga's will be viewed by the world for who they really are. You should just break up with Natsume, too. He won't give you a good name."

For a while all I could here was the wind blowing. Sakura's head lay low and she didn't say a word. Yamaguchi seemed to be very satisfied with what she said.

"Don't…" Sakura said.

"What?" Yamaguchi asked as she glared at Sakura.

"Don't you dare insult Hyuga Shoes!" Sakura shouted, "You keep on saying that Hyuga Shoes stole your number one spot, but have you ever thought that it might be your fault? You know, for a while, I liked Yamanouchi Shoes. They looked great and the materials were good… but then you started selling shoes with low class material. And then Hyuga Shoes appeared. And they gave you a free scarf if you buy two pairs of shoes. What was I supposed to do? I had no option but to leave Yamanouchi Shoes… But that doesn't matter. What matters is that the culprit is you, Yamaguchi Shizuka!" Sakura said like detective Conan as she pointed at the criminal.

"What do you have that can prove me wrong? The receptionist? Please… Anyone could have bribed him to lie, to my advantage or to yours. The picture? A stupid excuse of a prove. No one will ever believe that I was the culprit. Just face it, you lost…" Yamaguchi said and started to laugh.

I was completely shocked. My childhood friend betrayed me. My childhood friend, the one that has C cup boobs and a pretty face betrayed me!

"Have you ever heard of Imai Recorder 3000?" Sakura said and raised the recorder up.

Oh my god! I had the same version at home and I loved it!

"_That's right, I set this whole thing up_." Started the speaker.

"Aaahh…" Sakura sighed, "Music to my ears. And think about the fun I'll have destroying your reputation, Yamanouchi. Aaaah. The joy…" Sakura said in a satisfying voice. "But as much as I'd like to do that, I don't think it would suit my image… So how about this: you go back to whatever country you came from, and I make up a nice story about how this was all a misunderstanding. Do we have a deal?" Sakura leaned closer to Yamanouchi.

I swallowed heavily as I waited for Yamanouchi's answer. Yamanouchi looked as white as a ghost by then.

"Yes." Yamanouchi said and nodded.

"Great!" Sakura said and took the last sip of tea, "I have to go and talk to the press. Have a nice life, Yamanouchi!" She said and started walking to my direction. As she passed, she made eye contact with me. After a few seconds of staring at poor Yamanouchi, I decided to go after Sakura…

"Thanks for helping me out…" I said once I caught up with her.

"Never mind that… It's all over now…" Sakura said as she ran her hand through her hair. "Sorry for getting angry at you yesterday, by the way…"

"It's OK." I said. But I knew it was more than just OK. She saved my reputation and my family's reputation too. But why…

For a while, no one said a word.

"You know… you should wash-up up and go back to class. I'll handle things with the press." Sakura said and went away. I was left all alone… again.

"How long do you think it will take for everything to go back to normal?" I asked while I and Sakura drove back to our house.

"A day at most. The power of the press is incredible, if you know what I mean…" Sakura said.

"Can I ask you something: why did you help me?" I asked. That question has been stuck in my mind for the whole day.

"We had a deal. We're comrades now. We fight for each other, we stick with each other and no matter how much we hate it, we live with each other."

"Yeah… I guess we do." I said and for the rest of the day, I didn't say anything to her.

"Ring ring ring…" my phone rang at 10am the next morning, when I was still enjoying my sleep. Although it was Friday, I and Sakura got excused from school. I didn't know why, but I had the feeling that Grandmother had something to do with that. She always butts in…

"Helloooooooow?" I asked as I yawned. "Who's that?"

"Natsume," I heard my Grandmother's voice in the phone. "Are you and Mikan ready to pick up Ruka and Imai-san yet?"


	11. Chapter 11

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Congratulations on reaching the 11****th**** chapter of Fake Romance! Enjoy!**

**Previous:**

"Ring ring ring…" my phone rang at 10am the next morning, when I was still enjoying my sleep. Although it was Friday, I and Sakura got excused from school. I didn't know why, but I had the feeling that Grandmother had something to do with that. She always butts in…

"Helloooooooow?" I asked as I yawned. "Who's that?"

"Natsume," I heard my Grandmother's voice in the phone. "Are you and Mikan ready to pick up Ruka and Imai-san yet?"

"Of course we're ready, grandmother." I said calmly, even though I was panicking like the house was on fire. But then again, if I told Grandmother the truth, maybe the house would be on fire, or even worse… on a volcano. "Grandmother, Mikan and I need to hurry, so I'll hang up now. Good bye, Grandmother!" I said and hung up.

I ran out of my room and started banging on Sakura's door.

"HEY! WAKE UP! WAKE UP, Sakura, wake up!..." I continued banging on the door, until Sakura finally decided to open.

"I thought you said that we had a day off…" Sakura said, as she rubbed her eyes.

"No time for explanations. Brush your teeth and get ready to go to the airport." Sakura blinked a few times and then slowly made her way to the bathroom. I need to hurry her up A LITTLE BIT: "We don't have time for this! Hurry up and move your sexy legs faster!" I yelled and she immediately ran off. I guess that worked well… I am good!

I went to my room and started to prepare myself too.

After 20 minutes of tooth brushing, hair combing, clothes picking and shoe tying, Sakura and I were finally sitting in my car, driving on the road, ready to pick up Ruka and his girlfriend, Hotaru Imai.

"Now can you please explain to me why I'm not in bed sleeping right now?" Mikan sure was angry…

"Long story short, my best friend and his girlfriend are to arrive to Japan. I forgot all about that… Sorry, by the way. And that's why you thought that today was a day off, but it's not. Today, you and I are supposed to pick them up at 11am and that's why Grandmother gave us a day off to pick them up and spend the day with them. Originally, you're my fake girlfriend, because Grandmother wants to show you off to my best friend… So you better put on your best face got him… Ruka likes girls that are optimistic and goo…"

"Wait!" Sakura interrupted. "What's the name of your friend again?" she asked. Her voice seemed more serious than usual.

"Didn't you listen to grandmother back in the main house? Well… you sure are deaf… Never mind, his name is Ruka Nogi. You know, the Nogi World the one that has surpassed Disney World and Disney La…" I said.

"I KNOW WHO HE IS!" Sakura interrupted me.

…

Silence

…

After a few minutes I heard Sakura inhale deeply.

"I don't feel so well. Can you drive me home?" Sakura said.

It was a little suspicious though. She was very fine just a few minutes ago. And she was shouting a few minutes ago as well…

But then again, she's a girl, right? Who knows how their body works?

"Sorry, but we're late already. I can't waste my time on driving you home." I answered truthfully.

"You can leave me here and I'll take a cab." She replied in an instant.

"Look, what's going on?" I asked her. There was something very suspicious about how she was acting.

"Nothing! I just don't feel well and I want to go home. Just stop and I'll get myself a cab."

There was no point in arguing with her anyway, so I stopped the car and let her out. She slammed the door and I drove away. I was too late to question what was up with her.

Ruka Nogi was what girls called a perfect prince and what guys called a cool guy to hang with. I personally thought of him as a little bit too feminie looking dude that had blond hair (his mother is French) and long eyelashes. Ruka was around my height, and we hung out with each other a lot back when he lived in Japan a **few** years ago. Then he moved to France and now, after what seemd like forever, Ruka was back in Japan with his new girlfriend, Hotaru Imai.

Hotaru Imai was pretty famous in our community of rich people. Being the successor of Imai Corp. and also making money on her own, she was know to be an ice queen/money machine. Grandmother gave me a small profile of her back when she was desperately trying to convince me to find a richer girlfriend than Luna. She was apparently a brunette with a height of 173 cm. Just like most of rich girls from our community, she was a B cupped, long and slim legged, narrow wasted and pretty faced girl. She was acceptable in my opinion. Or at least until I met her in person…

"Yo! Ruka!" I yelled in the direction of Ruka and Imai girl. Ruka waved back at me, and after a minute we were standing next to each other, smiling widely.

"Been a while, huh, Natsume?" Ruka said, "Natsume, this is Hotaru. I think you know who she is…" He gestured to the brunette next to him. "Hotaru, this is Natsume, my best friend." He gestured to me.

"I'm very glad to meet you." She said in an icy voice. I didn't feel this cold since I went to Russia. Good times, good times…

"Pleasure to meet you too…" As a very awesome gentleman, I replied…

"So,…" Ruka said while he looked around. "…where is your fiancée?"

"What fiancée?" I asked. I am not intending to marry yet!

" Don't play dumb, Natsume. Everyone knows that you finally found a girl that suits your grandmother's taste. So, where is she?" Ruka asked again.

"Oh, Mikan?" I asked. "She's sick, so she asked to go home."

"Mikan?" Ruka asked. He sounded kinda weird for a guy that was just smiling. Even that girl… Hotaru's face change from ice to something very mysterious.

"Yes, Mikan, Mikan Sakura. You know Sakura real estate's right? Well, she's the daughter of the CEO… You know her?"

"No, not at all. Mikan is a nice name." Ruka said.

"You told me that you didn't like that name." Ruka's girlfriend smirked.

"Well, I like it now, considering that she's now Natsume's girlfriend…"

"And future fiancée." Hotaru's smirk widened. Ruka immediately looked over at Hotaru.

"ALRIIIIIIIIGHT…" I said, "Let's get you two in my car and we'll go on a small tour around the city." I exclaimed.

Ruka and Hotaru came back to normal (I think) and we had a lot of fun… Well, except for the times the name Mikan was mentioned by Hotaru-san, which was almost every ten minutes. Fun, fun, fun… totally NOT!

At around 8pm, I arrived back to my commoner home. Sakura was nowhere in sight, so I prepared some left overs for a late dinner. It's not like I didn't go to a restaurant with Ruka and Hotaru-san… But she kept on mentioning Sakura this and Sakura that, and my poor friend Ruka kept on trying to change the topic (and annoyingly, I have no idea why). And Hotaru-san kept on mentioning Sakura… I, as the third person in their conversion, was trying to make the dinner pleasant for all of us, and thus didn't have time to eat. And my God, I ordered lobsters! Such a waste of good lobsters...

After dinner I started to plan what to do with Ruka and Hotaru-san over the weekend. As his best friend and a Hyuga heir, it was my job to brag all about my life here and my girlfriend to Ruka. I needed to find a place that reflects my life the best and makes Sakura stand out the most…

As I was starting to get some ideas, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Natsume?"

"Hey, Ruka. You called just in time. Listen, where do you want to go tomorrow? It'll be Saturday tomorrow and I'm totally free. So is Mikan, by the way." I said, even though I already planned out where to go myself…

"Listen, Hotaru and I are very tired and I think we should rest for the weekend. I'll just meet you at school, OK?" Ruka said in an awkward voice.

"Uhm… Ok… Sure… Fine, you go take a rest. Take care, man…" I said and hung up.

Well, that was a waste of my precious time….

I waited for Monday impatiently… And that's what I did for the rest of the week. Cool, right? NOT!

"Hey, woman, HURRY UP! We will be late for school, if you don't go down here this instant and cook something to eat!" I yelled at Sakura on Monday morning.

"Coming!" she yelled as she ran downstairs with her bag.

"Cook, cook, cook!" I yelled.

"I will, I will, I will! See how annoying that is?" Sakura said, as she started cooking something that I knew would taste good.

"I'll let you off this time, but PLEASE remember to behave yourself in front of Ruka!"

"We're going to school, you idiot!" She said and looked back at me.

"Ruka and Hotaru-san transferred to our school… idiot…"

CLANG! I heard a pan drop and looked at Sakura to see her on the floor with the pan right next to her.

"Are ya OK?" I asked and ran to her.

"Yeah… I guess… I'm just a little too tired… I think I'll have to stay home today…." She said as she stood up.

"Are you OK? Do you want me to call my family's doctor?"

"I'll call my own doctor…" She said.

"Are you sure? Should I call that doctor for you?" I asked her and tried to touch her forehead.

"I CAN DO IT MYSELF!" She yelled at me and slapped my hand away. She looked mad for a little while, her eyes were burning… But then she calmed down, "Can you please clean this up for me?" she said and went out of the kitchen.

"Sure thing…" I said and started cleaning up.

Sakura can sure put her work in my hands… But that's not important... She was not just acting rudely, she was also acting weirdly. Something was definitely going on, and there were some people who I was sure knew what that was. And I am going to find out!

"Hey, man!" Ruka said when I arrived to class.

"Hey." I said to him. Hotaru-san was standing next to him at the door. She didn't greet me, I didn't bother, too.

"So, where's the famous fiancée of yours?" Hotaru-san asked. Ruka seemed to get tenser.

There was something going on…

"She's sick today, so she wanted to take a rest at home…"

"Is that so?" Ruka said. He seemed much more relaxed than before.

Things were getting more and more suspicious…

Ring, ring, ring… Ruka's phone rang. He pulled his phone out and went out of class to answer the phone.

"Hey," I called out for Hotaru-san, "Do you, by any chance, know Sakura Mikan?" I had to be careful with what I say. I didn't know what was going on after all.

"No, why?" Hotaru-san smirked. She looked like she was playing some kind of mind game or something.

"Oh, nothing…" I said and gave up on getting information from Hotaru-san. She probably had no idea what was going on herself...

"If you're curious about the relationship between Ruka and your girlfriend, why don't you pay me around $1,000,000 and we'll talk in private?" Hotaru-san offered. Her eyes were filled with dollar signs.

For a while, I considered the amount of money. $1,000,000 wasn't that much, but I didn't want to waste it if there was no important relationship between Sakura and Ruka. I could use them to buy the lobsters…

"No, thanks…" I said as Ruka came back into the classroom. Playing safe and eating lobsters was much better!

"How did you get my number?" I heard Sakura's voice in the kitchen when I came back home that afternoon.

I went closer to the kitchen and hid myself behind the wall. Do I have to always overhear stuff?

"Where?" She said.

"At the Hyuga Plaza? Do you even know where that is?" She asked.

Everyone in town knows where my family's plaza was. Unless… the person just arrived in town… Ruka…

"At the Coffee Talk?" Coffee Talk was a café in the Plaza, very good and very expensive for commoners. Only rich people drank there. Ruka definitely fell into that category…

"I'll meet you there in… 10 minutes. Bye." She said and hung up. I ran upstairs to my room immediately.

After a few moments, Sakura went upstairs and by the time I went out of my room, Sakura was dressed and out of her room.

"Hey Sakura!" I greeted, like nothing happened. "Where are you going?" I asked. I knew the answer, I think, but I just had to make sure.

"None of your business…" She said on her way down stairs.

I stared at her for a while. She was wearing a nice yellow dress that was a little too long in my opinion (considering that it was covering her knees). Sakura probably picked up my stares as she sighed.

"We're out of milk…" She said and put on her shoes, "Bye." The door slammed behind her and I heard her car drive away.

I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. There were two boxes of milk still there. She should have thought of a better lie… I went upstairs again and drove off to Hyuga Plaza 2 minutes later.

As I parked my car, I spotted Sakura's car too. The girl was just too obvious! And she thought she was smart…

The Coffee Talk was on the 7th floor of the plaza. It was a nice place, only separated from the rest of the shops by trees which made it very easy for me to spy on Sakura and whoever she was meeting with (probably Ruka).

I looked for a yellow dress that Sakura was wearing in the café. The yellow dress, which was very recognizable by the way, was found next to a blond guy, who, I knew, was Ruka. I went to around the shop and found the closest tree to their table. I hid behind that tree and listened carefully to whatever I could hear coming from their direction.

"I don't think that Natsume should know about our relationship…" I could hear Ruka clearly.

A relationship he said? I felt my shoulders get heavier. Could it be that Ruka was secretly dating Sakura?

"Which one?" Sakura asked. So there was more than 1 thing going on between them. My shoulders got heavier and heavier by each second.

"Both, I guess." Ruka said.

"Why?" Sakura asked. The girl was asking too many questions. How old is she? 5?

"Well, I don't know… I just think it may be a little awkward, you know…" Ruka put his hand on his neck.

"I guess…" Sakura said.

"How about a welcome hug?" Ruka said and stood up. Sakura hesitated. "Come on,…" Ruka said, "… stand up." And showed his 'oh so charming smile'. Sakura stood up and hugged Ruka.

"Welcome back, Ruka-pyon." The weight on my shoulders was too much to bare already.

"Don't call me that anymore…" Ruka said as they pulled away.

"Don't worry. I won't call you that in front of Natsume-kun."

"Now how about some coffee?" Ruka said as they both sat back down. He raised his hand and called for the waiter. I stood up from my hiding spot and went away. I've had enough for this afternoon. My legs were starting to hurt, because I was sitting for too long and my shoulders were hurting for a reason I have yet to discover…

At 8pm, after I finished washing the dishes, Sakura finally came home. Took her very long to buy milk, huh?

I heard her going upstairs. My shoulders were hurting again, and just out boredom, I decided to find out the relationship between Ruka and Sakura. Just out of boredom… Yeah…

"I never knew you were close to Ruka." I said loudly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked from upstairs.

"Don't play dumb with me! So what did your fiancée say about you going out with me? Was he jealo…"

"HE ISN'T MY FIANCEE!" Sakura yelled at me. The girl was overreacting.

"Oh really? Then what's up with Ruka-pyon?" I asked.

Sakura sounded surprised. I think I hit a jackpot. Yey me!

"He is my ex-customer..." She said. The weight on my shoulders disappeared. Ruka was just one of her fake boyfriends… "… and my ex-boyfriend."

…

The weight on my shoulders came back…


	12. Chapter 12

Fake Romance

By: money127

**You're reading chapter 12. Enjoy.**

**Previous:**

At 8pm, after I finished washing the dishes, Sakura finally came home. Took her very long to buy milk, huh?

I heard her going upstairs. My shoulders were hurting again, and just out boredom, I decided to find out the relationship between Ruka and Sakura. Just out of boredom… Yeah…

"I never knew you were close to Ruka." I said loudly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked from upstairs.

"Don't play dumb with me! So what did your fiancée say about you going out with me? Was he jealo…"

"HE ISN'T MY FIANCÉ!" Sakura yelled at me. The girl was overreacting.

"Oh really? Then what's up with Ruka-pyon?" I asked.

Sakura sounded surprised. I think I hit a jackpot. Yey me!

"He is my ex-customer..." She said. The weight on my shoulders disappeared. Ruka was just one of her fake boyfriends… "… and my ex-boyfriend."

…

The weight on my shoulders came back…

"Good night." She said and went upstairs.

I went upstairs a few minutes later… Couldn't fall asleep for a long time that night…

"Hello, I'm Mikan Sakura." Sakura said once she met Ruka and Hotaru-san the next morning at the school's parking lot. She was smiling with her I'm-an-angel smile…

"Hi… My name is Ruka Nogi… Nice to meet ya. " Ruka said, as I went out of my car, "And this…" he gestured to Hotaru-san, "… is my girlfriend, Imai Hotaru."

"It's so nice to meet you. Natsume-kun…" Sakura grabbed my arm immediately as she saw me coming closer, "…told me so much about you, Nogi-san. I went to Nogi World back when I was a kid and I love it even until now." Sakura smiled.

"Really?" Ruka asked.

"Yes!" Sakura exclaimed.

…

Nod-and-smile silence…

…

"I'm Hotaru Imai." Hotaru-san said breaking the silence.

"Hello." Sakura answered.

"Ruka told me so much about you…" Hotaru-san said and Ruka flinched. Sakura looked surprised but immediately smiled.

…

Another nod-and-smile silence…

…

"Let's go to class, shall we?" I said finally.

This was getting too intense for me…

"So, you lived in France, Nogi-san?" Sakura said at lunch time. She didn't even touch her roasted lobster yet. Such a waste of a good lobster…

"Yes." Ruka answered.

"For how long?" Sakura asked him. Like she had no idea…

"Five years." Ruka said and Sakura nodded.

…

Another nod-and-smile silence… And Sakura finally touched the lobster with the tip of her finger.

…

"How about you? I heard you lived in France for 4 years yourself." Hotaru-san asked before Sakura could even start actually eating a lobster.

"Yes, I did." Sakura said slowly. Ruka seemed tense.

"Have you met Ruka back when you were in France?" Hotaru-san said.

Sakura looked like she didn't know what to say.

…

The silence was beginning to kill me. I can't take it anymore… Especially when Sakura's lobster was still on the plate, begging me to eat it…

"You don't have to pretend that you don't know each other…" I said.

"Natsume?" Ruka asked.

"I'm sorry, Ruka-pyon. I told him. But he seemed to know a little even before that." Sakura defended herself. Ruka slowly turned to Hotaru-san.

"Hotaru…" Ruka started.

This is it, I thought. This is when I'll get exposed as a stalker, who spies on people behind some random bushes.

"He paid me with the new Hyuga shoes." Hotaru-san lied.

…

Did she just cover for me?

There was silence between me and Sakura when we walked to the parking lot this afternoon. Since the second period after lunch, when Hotaru-san asked to switch seats with me, so that she could sit with Sakura, Sakura acted very weirdly. Ruka and Hotaru-san were walking in front of us. As they finally spotted their car and made a turn, I ran towards Hotaru-san and pulled her to talk.

"Hey, thanks for covering for me at lunch time." I wanted to tell her that for hours. I didn't like it when someone did something nice to me and I didn't show my appreciation. Hotaru-san just looked at me and said nothing.

"What?" I asked her.

"Money." She said.

"Huh?" I asked. What money was she talking about?

"I covered for you right?" Horaru-san asked. I nodded, "Covering for you comes with a price."

"How much?" I asked. She was a money maker, after all.

"$2,000,000." Hotaru-san said without changing her expression.

"Zimbabwean dollars?" I asked.

"US dollars, you idiot. You're the only human that I've met that thought of paying in Zimbabwean dollars."

"Why so much?" I asked. I thought it would be more around $1,000,000s.

"Covering for you is $1,000,000. The other $1,000,000 is to keep silence. So are you going to pay or not?" She looked at me impatiently.

There are two choices: either I lose some money and keep my pride OR I lose my pride and buy some high-class lobsters from the Indian Ocean.

But, I chose my pride and Hyuga name… Who cares about a few million dollars? And so I signed a check and gave it to her. Hotaru-san smiled triumphantly.

"Nice working with you." She said and was about to walk away.

"Wait." I said. Hotaru-san stopped. I wanted to ask her about what happened to Sakura, but decided against it, "Never mind." I said and Hotaru-san walked away, smirking.

Sakura went upstairs the moment we came home.

And even when it was time for her to cook, she didn't come down. I was extremely hungry and I knew that as long as Sakura stayed this way, I'd have no choice but to eat instant noodles again. I wanted to solve whatever was bothering her, but being the insensitive guy I was, I decided to seek advice from Tsubasa.

"So that's what it is…" Tsubasa said after I explained the situation.

"So is there any way to help her out with her problem?" I asked.

"Well, the fact that she has to confront her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend is a problem to begin with. The thing is we can't solve this problem. But what you can do is try to talk to her. Open her up. Make her talk and that will make her feel better. I KNOW… Take her out today." Tsubasa said.

"Where?"

"How about a nice restaurant? And then take her to the ferris wheel…"

"Why ferris wheel?"

"You ask too many questions. It's just to give you some time to talk. The ferris wheel in Nogi land is really good by the way. Take cabin number 13. No one takes it there. They all think it's unlucky. If you take that cabin, you'll get a lot of alone time to talk…"

"13 is unlucky, by the way…"

"Don't be superstitious. I believe in science, not in black cats and cabins number 13…"

"Fine, I'll take her there…"

"Good luck."

"You said that you don't believe in luck…"

"It's just a way of saying it, you idiot. You're just the type of person that will pay people with Zimbabwean dollars…"

"How did you know?"

"Oh so you did pay people with Zimbabwean dollars? You're hopeless… But don't worry, buddy. That's what I'm here for!" He said and hung up.

Was I really that hopeless? I mean the Zimbabwean dollars are pretty awesome… aren't they?

"How did you like the roasted lobsters?" I asked Sakura as I drove us to Nogi land after our meal at Harada Hotel. By the way, they were roasted with BBQ sauce… So good!

"They were OK…" She said. I parked the car and we walked to the ferris wheel. I got two tickets for us and we started to wait. Just as Tsubasa said, cabin number 13 was always empty. We made our way into the cabin and sat down. I sat on one side while I sat on the other. And…

Silence…

"So, about you and Ruka…" I tried to start a conversation. The whole point of going out with her is that she will talk to me – which she hasn't yet so far...

"That is none of your business!" She cut me off.

"It is, Ruka is my friend… and you are my comrade. You said it yourself, didn't you?" I said quietly. I don't feel like catching another fight with her today, especially right now.

"I don't wanna talk about it. If you want to know something, why don't you ask Ruka?" She said.

This was getting frustrating. I wasn't used to trying to talk to someone, who was unwilling to continue our conversation. The fan girls were pretty easygoing and I didn't even bother talking to strange guys.

I sighed…"Listen, I know you're upset or whatever about your past with him…" I started.

"Oh, really?" she mocked me.

"… so I think that it's best to talk about it and just let it out. Come on…" I said, "…just let all the sadness out, will you?"

Sakura looked at me for a while and sighed.

"I used to study in Alice Academy America. 4 years ago, I transferred to Alice Académie, the French campus of Gakuen Alice, as an exchange student. I met Ruka there. Do you know his grandfather?" She asked me.

I nodded in reply. "He died 3 years ago, didn't he?" I asked her.

She nodded back. "He was still alive when I transferred to Alice Académie, but he was very ill. One day, Ruka – who was at that time my classmate – asked me to visit his grandfather, Haruka Nogi. He said that Haruka-chi wanted a granddaughter, and that he never got his wish fulfilled. Ruka, being the nice grandson he was, wanted his Haruka-chi to be happy… So he brought me into his grandfather's mansion and introduced me as the future Mrs. Nogi, also his future granddaughter-in-law. Haruka-chi was a great guy… If only he was 50 years younger, I think I'd actually go out with him…"

That caught me off guard… I could never imagine Sakura being lovey-dovey with Haruka-san. I tried to compose myself and continued to listen.

"I got to know Ruka-pyon, too. And I guess I fell in love… After a few months, Haruka-chi died. Everyone grieved, especially Ruka-pyon. I was by his side and I comforted him in the worst times… Ruka asked me out a few months later, and we started going out for real… We kept our relationship a secret from the press and from his family. It might sound funny now, but back then I thought… I thought that there was some sort of romantic reason why he didn't publicize our relationship…" Sakura's eyes started to get wet and tears were flowing down her cheeks.

I wanted to comfort her… but I didn't know what to do. It really sucks being an insensitive guy…

"I really thought that…" She continued, "Our relationship lasted 3 years until… Ruka-pyon broke up with me… I was too upset to confront him… So I flew to Japan and… here I am, sitting here in a cabin, crying my eyes out in front of my comrade because he moved on and I couldn't…" She cried silently for a few minutes, "I thought he was going to propose to me… He kept on looking at engagement rings when we went out. Can you imagine how much I hope that gave me? I thought that I was really going to become Mrs. Nogi. Stupid me…" She was shaking now…

I sat on her side and hugged her… I saw that in the movies, and when a girl cries, you should do that…

I never knew that she was going through so much… I felt sorry for her…

"And you know what's really funny… Hotaru-san said that Ruka-pyon loved me and that he was devastated when we broke up… when HE broke up with ME! And it's not like he cannot take me back. I mean, even right now, if he wants to take me back, I'll just run into his arms…"

In the back of my head, a small voice said _I didn't want to hear that._

"…and she said that HE was devastated…" She said before starting to cry hysterically. We were on top of the ferris wheel now, but I didn't even notice how the city looked from up here… Sakura's tears were all I saw.

"I'll get over him someday. I will…" She said and nodded to herself. "You know, someday… I'll look at him and I'll feel no regret at all. Yeah… I will…" she said as she started to stop crying.

And that's when I remembered something. Maybe, Sakura will get over Ruka faster than she thinks she will… "I think you have already got over him." I said.

"Really?" Sakura asked me in surprise.

"Yeah… I mean, don't you love someone else now…" I said and started to feel embarrassed.

"What are you talking about?" she asked me as she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on. Don't play dumb… I know that you were jealous when you thought that I was interested in Yamanouchi…" I said out of my impatience.

"That's because my mo… Forget it. But I don't like you at all!" She said but I knew that there was something going on.

"Of course, you don't like me… You love me!" I said. I stood up and leaned towards her.

And then suddenly the ferris wheel stopped.

Did the ferris wheel get stuck somewhere? I thought.

Did the ferris wheel run out of power?

Are we suspended somewhere up in the sky now?

And when I opened my eyes, Sakura's face was extremely close and our lips were sealed together. I stood up immediately.

"Well…" I said, "… That was awkward…"

"That's it." Sakura said and walked to the cabin door, "I'm out of here." She opened the door and was about to step out.

"No," I wanted to tell her, "We're stuck in midair". I hugged her on instinct.

"Hyuga!" She yelled.

"Don't worry, Sakura. We'll get through this together…" I said to calm her down and started to pull her up.

"Hyuga!" She yelled again.

"Sakura, it's gonna be OK… I'm a strong man and I'll help you get through this… Believe me..." I said and tried to pull her harder.

"Hyuga!" She yelled again. I opened my eyes.

That is when I realized that our cabin was already down on the ground.

… And then I felt them. The B sized round things that I was holding onto, "Is it me or did your boobs get bigger?" I asked on instinct.

…

Sakura looked back at me and glared. I took my hands off her. And then…

SLAP! A red mark was on my cheek.

"YOU JERK!" Sakura said and stomped away.

"Congratulation," a janitor said to me, "You're the 200th couple that broke up in this cabin."

"We didn't really break up…" I said.

"Whatever…" The janitor took out a small card and gave it to me, "Here, when you get dumped, come here and have some fun OK?" He said and winked.

I looked at the card. The biggest letters on the card read: GAY CLUB.

"Thank you so much for your… uhm… consideration…" I said, "But we didn't really break up…"

And then I ran full speed to the parking lot… where I found my parking lot empty. When did Sakura get my keys?

"Hahahaha… You actually touched her boobs… Hahahaha…" Tsubasa laughed as he was driving me back home in his car.

"And you know what?" I said to Tsubasa as we were nearing my house.

"What?"

"We're couple number 200 that broke up in that cabin…"

"Well… that's unlucky…" Tsubasa stopped in front of my house.

"Now who's superstitious?" I yelled and got out of the car.

"Hey, Ruka," I whispered to Ruka at the school parking lot the next day. Hotaru-san and Sakura were chatting next to us about something that I didn't care about (Hyuga shoes perhaps?).

"What?" He said.

"Why did you break up with Mikan?" I asked.

Ruka's face changed from casual to awkward. "Well, it's complicated…" He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. Did he not want to tell me or something?

HONK, HONK. A car honked behind us. Ruka turned around to look for the source.

"Tono?" Ruka and Sakura said at the same time.

A tall guy with long raven hair came out of the car and walked towards us. "Well hello, you love birds!" He said and hugged Sakura and Ruka and the same time, "It's so nice to see you guys back together!"

…

WHAT?

**This chapter and basically the whole story had been pretty complicated. That's why I decided to answer some questions that I thought you might ask.**

**I don't get the ferris wheel part…**

**Well, the ferris wheel suddenly stopped, so Natsume thought that something was wrong with it and that they were suspended somewhere up there. When Mikan opened the door, he thought that she would fall; he hugged her to "keep her from falling". The things he said kind of sound like they're about to break up, so the janitor misunderstood that they broke up.**

**Is the story nearly over?**

**No way! I think my story will be about 30 chapters long. This is just the beginning…**

**Are Hotaru and Mikan friends?**

**No. They barely even know each other. Actually, Hotaru knows a lot about Mikan through Ruka and through her research. **

**Where are Grandmother and Aoi?**

**Grandmother is too busy talking to the Prime Minister of Japan and Aoi is back at his mansion.**

**Where are Natsume's parents?**

**I don't know… But I'll figure something out for them. I don't think they'll be in this story though.**

**Why did Mikan's parents agree to let Mikan live with Natsume?**

**Well, the reason will come later. It's as complicated as why Ruka broke up with Mikan.**

**So why did Ruka break up with Mikan?**

"**It's complicated" Ruka said. And so do I. Just read on and you'll find out… (sounds mysterious, doesn't it?)**

**If there's Tsubasa, where's Misaki?**

**She'll come later. Like waaaay later.**

**Did you run out of questions?**

**Yes. Yes, I did.**


	13. Chapter 13

Fake Romance

By: money127

**Hello. I'm money127. I haven't been able to write for a long time because I was lazy and because I was busy studying for my exams. But now that I have done all of my exams, I'm free to write as much as I want.**

**Enjoy chapter 13. ^-^**

**Previous:**

HONK, HONK. A car honked behind us. Ruka turned around to look for the source.

"Tono?" Ruka and Sakura said at the same time.

A tall guy with long raven hair came out of the car and walked towards us. "Well hello, you love birds!" He said and hugged Sakura and Ruka and the same time, "It's so nice to see you guys back together!"

…

WHAT?

"Tono, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in America with Misaki." Ruka asked as both he and Sakura pulled away from the long haired dude.

"When I heard that Ruka Nogi is flying to Japan where Mikan Sakura is, I had to come and root for you guys!" The guy said and smiled.

"What do you mean by "root for you guys"?" Sakura asked and raised her left brow.

"Oh come on, don't pretend that you have no chemistry towards each other." Long-haired dude inhaled deeply. "I can smell it in the air…"

Sakura and Ruka looked at each other for a few seconds and Sakura cleared her throat.

"Natsume, this is my friend Akira Tonouchi, people call him Tono. Tono, this is Natsume Hyuga, my boyfriend." Sakura said, as she gestured to me.

"And this…" Ruka gestured towards Hotaru-san, "… is my girlfriend, Hotaru Imai."

"Oh…" Tonouchi said and paused for a while, "Are ya gonna break up soon?"

"No,…" Sakura said and I felt relieved, "We're not! We even started living with each other…" Sakura said and pulled me to her side.

"So…" Tonouchi said and cupped his chin, "… he's in the way?"

Sakura and Ruka looked like they were about to give up on this guy.

"Tono, we already told you thousand times: THERE'S NOTHING LEFT BETWEEN ME AND RUKA!" Sakura said.

"But… but…" Tonouchi looked like he was about to cry.

Ruka signed.

"Listen Tono," Ruka rubbed his temple, "Let's stop talking about this. Let's talk about something else… Like how about telling me how you got into this school even though you're not a student here?"

"Well you know," Tonouchi's face changed from puppy to playboy, "I have a great deal of persuasion skills…"

"By 'persuasion' you mean seduction, right?" Sakura said finally smiling.

"You know how I roll…" The guy said and smirked.

"How's Misaki? Why isn't she with you?" Sakura asked.

"We had a few problems that we couldn't solve…" Tonouchi ran his fingers through his hair, "I think we won't be talking for a while…"

"Aaaw, but you guys make such a good couple." Sakura frowned.

"You and Ruka were a good couple and you guys broke up too." Tonouchi said, "Besides, the only reason why Misaki and I started dating is because you are Misaki's friend and Ruka is my friend. It's hard to get along with such a smart and logical girl for too long… Don't worry about us, though. We're adults. We know how to deal with this stuff and will act maturely."

"I guess you're right…" Sakura said and signed.

The bell rang from the distance. Ruka, Hotaru-san, Sakura and I picked our bags.

"We have to go." Ruka said to Tonouchi, "See ya later!"

And we all went towards our first class. I silently wished that I would never see that match-maker again.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked Tonouchi in the parking lot after school, "Don't say that you have been waiting for us the whole day…"

"I wasn't waiting." Tonouchi said and waved his hand towards some of our school's female staff members, "I got acquainted to some of your lovely school staff members…"

"By 'got acquainted' you mean you flirted with them, right?" Ruka raised his eyebrows.

"That's just how I roll, guys…" He said and smirked. "Where are you going now?" Tonouchi asked, as Ruka and Hotaru-san got into one car and Sakura and I into the other.

"I'm going to Natsume's house to greet his grandmother. It's been a while…" Ruka said and started his engine.

"Well, it's been a while for me too… Actually I've never met her… I've heard her granddaughter is a charmer, though… So I'll go!" Tonouchi said and got into a black BMW.

"Who said you can come?" I asked. I didn't like that match-maker (and I wouldn't want him to marry Aoi)… He was just plain annoying…

"Mikan did, didn't you Mikan?" Tonouchi said and winked towards Sakura.

"Natsume-kun, just let him come along… He doesn't bite… hard…" Sakura said in a voice that showed that she'd rather have him tag along than let him whine about it tomorrow. Even Sakura was tired of the guy.

"FINE!" I said and drove off. Ruka and Tonouchi followed in their cars.

"Grandmother, Ruka is here to greet you!" I yelled as we came into the mansion.

My grandmother came down stairs a few second after that. "Well, isn't it Ruka Nogi and Hotaru Imai paying me a visit?" Grandmother smiled.

"Hello, Mrs. Hyuga." Ruka smiled gently and bowed down.

"Hello." Hotaru-san said.

"You're such a beauty. I heard that you're very bright, too." Grandmother greeted Hotaru-san.

"Yes. Yes, I am." Hotaru-san said not even changing her expression. She really amazed me with her self-confidence.

"Ohohohoho…" Grandmother laughed, "You're so straight forward… I like it… And who might you be?" Grandmother asked as she finally spotted Tonouchi.

"I'm Akira Tonouchi, Tono Corp…" He said and extended his hand.

"The infamous Tono the playboy?"

"That's me!" He said in a proud voice. To be known as a playboy is a big honor in our society that only some very handsome man (such as myself) received.

"You are as charming as everyone says you are…" Grandmother shook hands with him, "Please, sit down." Grandmother gestured to the sofas.

We all sat on one side and grandmother sat opposite to us.

"I'm sure you have met Natsume's girlfriend Mikan Sakura…" Grandmother gestured to Sakura.

"Yes, I am fortunate enough to get to know such an amiable person…" Hotaru-san spoke up. Even Ruka's eyes were wide open as she spoke. Did a ghost possess Hotaru-san or was she just feeling OOC?

"I'm sure that throughout this school year, you, Tonouchi-san, and Ruka will all be able to get to know even more about how great a person Mikan is…"

"That will not be necessary for Ruka, Mrs. Hyuga…" Tonouchi said.

"And why is that?" Grandmother asked.

"Oh, don't you know? Ruka and Mikan used to go out with each other…" Tonouchi answered in the isn't-that-obvious tone.

"Didn't they? I never heard of it…" Grandmother looked at Sakura, confused.

"Ruka never made the relationship public…" Tonouchi said.

"And why not? Natsume and Mikan's relationship is known public around Japan already, and we are thinking of letting this news spread even farther. Could it be that Ruka didn't care enough to make it public?" Grandmother glanced at Ruka triumphantly.

"Of course not! Ruka cared deeply for Mikan and wanted to make sure that their relationship will be kept private to avoid any complications…" Tonouchi said calmly.

"Natsume is strong enough to protect her from those complications." Grandmother emphasized the word "complications", as she slightly shook her head from one side to the other. Sakura and I did face some problems but I didn't think that I was the one protecting Sakura. She was the one that protected me.

"Ruka, unlike someone else," Tonouchi glanced at me, "was smart enough to understand that he can't protect Mikan from everything…" Tonouchi said. Grandmother looked insulted.

"How can you be so sure that the reason why Ruka couldn't protect Mikan is not the fact that he was not serious enough about their relationship?" Grandmother once again glanced at Ruka.

"How can you be so sure that your grandson is serious?" Tonouchi emphasized the word "grandson".

"Natsume and Mikan do it every day! I send them condoms!" I felt my cheeks get hotter even though I knew that what she said was not true.

"So sexual intercourse makes a relationship serious? I think not! And even if that is true, Ruka and Mikan were just as, if not even more, passionate about each other!" Tonouchi shouted loud and clear.

Sakura and Ruka blushed. Grandmother was not pleased with this.

"Besides," Tonouchi continued, "Mrs. Nogi knew, that Ruka and Mikan would eventually marry, so she didn't even have to send condoms…"

"But they didn't marry, did they?" Grandmother shook her head from side to side, mocking Tonouchi.

"Ruka was about to propose!" Tonouchi stood up and slammed the table.

"Natsume already proposed!" Grandmother stood up and slammed the table too.

"Oh yeah? Where's the ring?" Tonouchi said really loudly.

"Huh?" Grandmother opened her eyes wide.

"Where's the ring?" Tonouchi repeated.

"Natsume, where's the ring?" Grandmother looked at me.

"I haven't proposed to her…" I said, "Yet…" I added when I noticed my grandmother's glare. No one was allowed to let a Hyuga lose in an argument.

"Well, propose to her now!" Grandmother yelled at me like I was supposed to propose to Sakura ages ago…

"I don't have a ring…" I said in a low voice. I didn't want to anger grandmother now.

"Here," Grandmother took off her ring, "this is a ring that has been passed down to every Mrs. Hyuga that married the heir. It is a great honor that many rich and respectable young ladies competed for. Your mother, sadly, refused this ring… But I'd be very pleased if your wife wears this, Natsume…" She gave me the ring, "Propose to her!" She ordered me.

Grandmother pulled Sakura and me to the center of the room and I kneeled down.

"Mikan Sakura, daughter of Yukihira Sakura," I tried to make this proposal as long as possible to find a way out of this, "the love of my life, the light of my life, my life itself…"

"Just say it already!" Grandmother shouted and I knew that I had no other choice.

"Will you marry me?" I said, begging Sakura with my eyes to just play along.

Sakura looked speechless.

…

"Oh, look at the time!" Sakura exclaimed, "It's so rude of us to be staying here so late…"

"But it's only 4 pm." Grandmother said.

"4 pm is the time that we usually use your condoms, grandmother. So if you excuse us, we all" Sakura looked at Tonouchi, Ruka and Hotaru-san that were still sitting on the sofa, "shall go home."

"Of course, my dear. I wouldn't want to" Grandmother cleared her throat, "interrupt with your usual schedule."

And that's how I, Natsume Hyuga, escaped from making Sakura my fake fiancée.

"That was very close!" Ruka said on the phone after I arrived to my house, "I mean, even I haven't proposed to Hotaru yet…"

"Yep." I said, "That was way too close."

"You know, I was really about to propose to Mikan…" Ruka said.

"Why didn't you?" I asked.

"You know what I'll say, right?" Ruka answered and I understood that I won't be getting an answer any time soon.

"It's complicated…" I said mimicking the way Ruka usually says it.

"How did your 4 pm go?" Ruka asked probably waiting for some non-existent details on how Sakura and I "use grandmother's condoms" (if only he knew that the way we use them is we throw them away).

But how could I blame him, we were all teenagers…

"The usual…" I said even though there was no "usual".

"No juicy details?" He asked.

"If you want some juicy details – go do it yourself!" How juicy can throwing condoms in the trash be?

"Hotaru's house is inhabited by maids and surveillance cameras. If I go do it myself, the next day, it will be on Youtube and I will be forced to marry Hotaru immediately. If I call Hotaru to my place, she'll say "NO" because she's always too lazy to move her pretty butt into her car. You're so lucky that your grandmother gives you some privacy…"

"I know I am…" I said even though the privacy didn't have much use when it came to a relationship such as mine and Sakura's.

"I gotta go, man… It's 6, time for my favorite show." Ruka said.

"Me too…" I said and thought of what Sakura is making for dinner.

"Are you going to continue your 4 pm activity?" Ruka asked mockingly.

"No. I'm going to do my 6 pm activity!" I told him, trying to sound as mysterious as possible.

"And what is that? Spill it, man!" Ruka asked like he didn't know what everyone did at 6.

"Dinner, of course!"

"You're so boring! Bye, man." Ruka said.

"Yep." I hung up. It's not boring to eat Sakura's food though, especially when it comes to fried lobsters…

"The cultural festival is coming up!" Narumi sensei said to our class the next morning. "And since you are my favorite class," he said even though everyone knew that every class was his favorite, "you'll be doing a play with me as your director. Applause, please!" He said, but no one even moved their hands.

Narumi sensei, looking a little disappointed, continued, "You'll be doing 'Sleeping Snow White in the Woods' which was written by me. I already chose most of the characters for this play… But the main roles, which are the Snow White and the Prince, are still undecided."

My female classmates squealed when they heard that the role of Snow White was still to be decided.

"So how will we pick the students?" One of the girls yelled from her seat.

"Actually I have two candidates for each role. So the other students will vote for who they want playing the role. For Snow White we have Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai. And for Prince we have Ruka Nogi and Natsume Hyuga." Everyone started chatting about who to choose while Hotaru-san, Ruka, Sakura and I looked at each other, confused. Sakura and I stood up and joined Ruka and Hotaru-san at their table.

"Man, you should be the prince and let Mikan be the Snow White!" Ruka told me, "Hotaru and I really don't want to do this."

"Speak for yourself." Hotaru-san said.

"So you want to be in the play?" Sakura said sounding very excited, "Natsume-kun and I really want to stay out of this. You guys will be perfect on stage. I think you should do this."

"Actually, it's not for you to decide." Narumi sensei said, "The votes have been counted and the results are…" He paused for a while "… a tie!"

Everyone gasped in surprise.

"It seems that we will have to find another way to choose the leads." Narumi said and signed.

"I have a way!" the door opened to reveal… annoying Tonouchi…

"Tonouchi Akira, is that you?" Narumi sensei almost yelled.

"Who else, sensei?" Tonouchi came into the classroom and all the girls squealed fan-girl style.

"It's been so long." Narumi sensei hugged Tonouchi tightly, "Class, let me introduce you to one of my old students. This is Tonouchi Akira."

"Hey girls!" Tonouchi smirked and most of the girls fainted.

"How did you get in here?" Narumi sensei asked Tonouchi.

"I used my skills of persuasion."

"Who did you seduce this time?" Narumi sensei rubbed his temples.

"Isn't the question supposed to be 'How many people have you seduced this time?'? But let's not talk about that… I heard that you can't decide on the actors, and I know how to help you out…"

"How?"

"We need to look for the person who is most suitable for the role, not the person that is most liked by the people."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that voting will not make this play successful. I say that we choose Mikan, because she looks like a princess and will definitely pass as Snow White… And Ruka should be the prince, because he looks like one…"

…

The whole class gasped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Tonouchi actually chose Sakura and Ruka, even though he knew that they were both not single! Hotaru's face turned into a frown, but quickly turned back to normal… while Ruka's jaw was wide open. Sakura looked surprised, too, but I knew that behind that mask, she was quite happy.

"That is an excellent idea!" Narumi clapped his hands together, "Thank you, Tonouchi for helping us out. I knew you were the most excellent student of mine… But I think that you should use your persuasion skills somewhere else, if that's fine with you…"

"Fine. Bye ladies!" Tonouchi said and waved his hand. The girls that were conscious all fainted leaving only the guys, Sakura and Hotaru-san conscious enough to continue with our studies.

"Hey!" I said to Hotaru as she came into my car and I started the engine. Sakura and Ruka had to stay to practice for the play, so Hotaru-san and I decided to go home in my car first. There was this silence that I found very awkward but Hotaru-san didn't seem to mind. I decided that it was time for me to say something. "When do you think the rehearsals will end?" was the first thing that came to my mind.

"As soon as possible, I hope…" She said.

"What, you miss Ruka already?" I teased her, hoping that she'll open up to me a bit.

"You don't get it, do you?" She said as if I was the dumbest person on earth.

"Get what?" I couldn't understand what she was talking about.

"Don't you understand that you can lose you precious Mikan in a blink of an eye?" And suddenly I felt my heart getting squeezed.

"Why is that?" I asked, trying to ignore the pain that I had no idea came from.

"You're really dumb…" Hotaru-san said and rubbed her temples.

"Then explain it to me!" I drove the car into the Hyuga Park and stopped the car.

"Your girlfriend and my boyfriend had gone out for 3 whole years. How long have you been going out with Mikan?"

"A month, I think…" I didn't even count because this wasn't a real relationship…

"I have only been going out with Ruka since this summer."

"So?"

"Ruka and Mikan can't have 'nothing' between each other. Not after going out with each other for that long… And now they're supposed to play a couple in a play! It won't be long before Ruka and Mikan realize that they might have some chemistry…" Hotaru bit her thumb nail and for the first time, I saw the insecure Hotaru Imai.

"But they can't be together… I mean, aren't you dating Ruka?"

"He can dump me any minute. Mikan can dump you any time, too. The fact that she doesn't want to marry you shows that she won't stay with you… Ruka hasn't proposed to me either… And even if he did propose, an engagement can be broken as well."

"What can we do?"

"That's the thing. We can't do anything, but pray that they don't get too close…" Her voice got lower and lower by each word and by the time she uttered "close" it was more like a whisper.

Not that I minded… I didn't want to hear that there was nothing I could do anyway…

"Hey" I opened the door of Sakura's room. Sakura turned around holding a script, "Is that for the play?"

"Yep. I'm going to do my best and make sure that this play goes on flawlessly…" She said and smiled brightly.

"Good luck!" I said and was about to go outside.

"Wait!" She said and held on to the back of my shirt, "Is it bad? Is it bad for me to be happy?" Sakura looked at me, confused.

I didn't know what to say. On one side, Mikan truly likes Ruka and I'm sure that it's not a crime to be happy to be with the one you like, on the other hand, Hotaru-san was Ruka's girlfriend and she truly wants Ruka to stay with her.

"I don't know…" I said and went out.

"You look great!" I told Ruka on the day of the play. After 1 month of 2 hour rehearsal time each day, the play was ready to be viewed for the cultural festival.

**1 hour till the start of the play**

"Thanks." Ruka told me. He was dressed in designer cloth from head to toe and looked like a perfect prince charming, "It's a little hot though." He complained. The costume looked a little thick here and there, and there, and there… ok, it was very thick. As thick as the coat I wore when I came to Russia in winter. Good times, good times…

"Glad I don't have to wear all of that…" I said mockingly.

I looked around but couldn't spot Sakura.

**55 minutes till the start of the play**

"Hey, Ruka-pyon." I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and saw the most beautiful Snow White I've ever seen. Her brown hair fell perfectly upon her shoulders and her white skin was complemented by the dark-creamy dress that she was wearing. But it seemed like her makeup was messed up.

"Mikan, what happened? Did you cry?" Ruka ran towards Sakura.

"Can you talk to me in private?" Sakura asked and I felt my heart being squeezed. Ruka glanced at me.

"Sure." He said and they both went into the dressing room.

**45 minutes till the start of the play**

After around 10 minutes, Ruka came out.

"What happened?" I asked him. Praying in my head that Sakura didn't confess to Ruka…

"You should go in and see for yourself…" Ruka said. He patted my shoulder as he went away.

I inhaled deeply and walked to the dressing room.

**40 minutes till the start of the play**

After a lot of hesitation, I opened the door.

Sakura was lying on the ground with her arms around her stomach. She was crying in pain and I got scared. Could it be that she was rejected by Ruka?

"What happened?" I asked her even though I had a pretty good idea what was going on.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you…" She said.

"How can I not understand?" I asked even though I had no idea what it felt to be rejected.

"Of course, you wouldn't know. You're not a girl!" She said.

"Now you're being sexist! Boys get rejected too!" Not me, of course, but other guys did.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"You were rejected by Ruka and are now crying, right?" I finally understood that what she was talking about was not what I was talking about.

"I'M ON MY PERIOD, YOU IDIOT!" She yelled at me, "And it hurts like hell…" She said and continued crying.

"How much does it hurt?" I asked her.

"Has anyone ever hit your stomach with a bat?" She asked me.

"No." I shook my head. No one is allowed to hit a Hyuga!

"Exactly…"

I guess it must have hurt a lot because she was crying a lot…

"We need to get you to the nurse's office…" I said and picked her up.

"But the play…" She said.

"We'll find another Snow White, don't worry…" I assured her.

**20 minutes till the start of the play**

I came back after bringing Sakura to the infirmary and found everything in chaos.

"What's going on?" I asked Narumi sensei.

"We can't find a replacement for Mikan." He said as he bit his nails.

"What about Hotaru-san?" I asked.

"She can't act. Her expression can barely change and she can't read the lines right…"

"Aren't there any other girls in our class?"

"Do you really want to bring one of those ugly ducklings on the stage?" Narumi sensei asked me.

"They aren't that bad!" I said looking around. Most of the girls were not that beautiful but they were at least average.

"Take a close look at each one of those girls, individually…"

I did as he said and…

…

Almost fainted in horror! Those girls looked awful. One had super big ears, the other had really scary eyebrows and another one was barely even female!

"Wow!" I said, still shocked.

"And that, my student, is the cheerleader effect."

"Isn't there anyone who can do her role?" I asked. I didn't want to bring Sakura back here when she's already in so much pain.

"You're the only person left that knows how to act in this class…" Narumi sensei signed.

"I can't be the Snow White. I'm more like" And then I realized something, "the prince."

I walked towards Ruka.

"Ruka," I called him, "I have an idea." I gestured Ruka to lean closer to me and I whispered my awesome genius idea.

"That might actually work!" Ruka exclaimed, and I nodded back.

"Sensei," I called Narumi sensei, "I'm going to be the prince and Ruka is going to replace Mikan…"

**15 minutes till the start of the play**

Ruka and I had no make-up or anything on…

Ruka roughly memorized Sakura's lines…

I know no lines…

Let's just keep our fingers crossed…


	14. Chapter 14

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

**Hello. I'm money127. ****I have a very good reason for not writing for a while. I had exams (like 2 weeks ago) and I was lazy (like for the past 2 weeks). But there's a good news. I finally figured out how to put the long lines between the paragraphs (yay me!)**

** So here's the new chapter. Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

**Previous:**

"Ruka," I called him, "I have an idea." I gestured Ruka to lean closer to me and I whispered my awesome genius idea.

"That might actually work!" Ruka exclaimed, and I nodded back.

"Sensei," I called Narumi sensei, "I'm going to be the prince and Ruka is going to replace Mikan…"

**15 minutes till the start of the play**

Ruka and I had no make-up or anything on…

Ruka roughly memorized Sakura's lines…

I know no lines…

Let's just keep our fingers crossed…

* * *

"How do I look?" Ruka asked me after we got dressed.

"Just like a princess." I told him, half joking and half serious. Ruka looked like the Dysney version of Snow White with short blond hair while I looked just like, if not even more handsome than, any Dysney prince.

"Should I take that as a compliment?" Ruka asked and raised one brow.

"It's up to you... Where's Hotaru-san?" I asked him after finally noticing who was missing in the dressing room. "If she can't act, she should at least do something to help."

"Oh, Hotaru can act! She's the best of the best." Ruka said and smirked, "She just doesn't want to move her pretty butt around."

"In short, she is lazy…" I stated and picked up my script, "Why did you end up liking that type of girl?" I tried imagining how Ruka and Hotaru-san would get along, but all I could imagine was Ruka running after Hotaru-san like a puppy…

"When Mikan was gone, I couldn't help but feel like I needed a replacement. I met Hotaru and I found a very funny resemblance between Mikan and her." He stared into the ceiling looking like he was looking back into the past.

"I see no resemblance at all." I told him. I just couldn't imagine the two faced Mikan Sakura having any resemblance with the money machine Hotaru Imai, if any…

"Oh, but there is." Ruka said and smiled, "You see, you'll never know their true character until it is too late…"

"How late were you?" I asked him.

"I woke up with her sitting on my bed and she happened to take some pictures that I didn't want to be made public. So she demanded some money to keep silence and kept blackmailing me with those pictures over and over again…" Ruka said while still smiling. Then he signed, "Ah, good times, good times…"

"How much money in total did you lose to her?" I tried to imagine how much money would Hotaru-san demand. But I knew that no matter what number I'd imaging, the right number would always be bigger.

"I've lost count. But it doesn't matter. What matters is that right now, she's beside me and I'm happy…"

In my eyes, Ruka was the happiest man alive. He had a girl that he loved and loved him back; he was rich, handsome and basically had everything anyone, even a playboy like me, wanted.

But even though I was thinking of how nice a life with the one you treasure would be, breaking up with Sakura and finishing the contract we had never crossed my mind.

* * *

"Hey, it's almost time!" A student came in to tell us.

"But I haven't even finished reading the script…" I told him. I was too busy talking to Ruka to even start reading the first line.

"We'll just help you from back stage. Don't worry. We have it all covered." The guy said and pushed Ruka and me out of the dressing room.

* * *

"Alright, Natsume," Said Narumi-sensei right before the play, "All of the dialogue and the instructions will be written on these boards…" He showed me a stack of boards, "All you need to do is do exactly as the board says and everything will be OK. The same goes for you, Ruka. Good luck both of you." Narumi sensei said and patted Ruka's and my shoulders.

I knew that we needed more than just luck to pull this off…

* * *

"Are you sure we have to do this?" I whispered to Ruka as he was lying down on the stage and I was kneeling in front of him. This was the grand finale of the play: the prince kisses Snow White and she awakens.

"Just ignore what Narumi is telling us to do on that board and kiss me in the forehead…" He whispered back with his eyes closed.

"But that will ruin the show..." I whispered.

"Do you want your girlfriend to see you kissing her ex?" He told me.

Sakura was backstage. She came back after a while, but was not able to replace Ruka as Ruka has already made an appearance.

"I don't, but…" I really didn't want to ruin the ending. Not when my comrade, Sakura, worked so hard for it.

"Just do something; you're pausing for too long…" He whispered.

"Sorry, Ruka..."

I have made my decision. The show must go on…

* * *

My lips were about to touch Ruka's when an apple hit me in the head…

"What the…" I said and all the lights went off.

"Stand up." Someone whispered and I did as that person told me. The light came back and the audience was clapping loudly.

The play was a great success. My head still hurts though…

* * *

"And out of nowhere, an apple came flying into Natsume's head." Ruka told Tonouchi, me, Sakura and Hotaru-san in our house, "God really does exist after all…" Ruka said and raised his arms up high.

"Gee, thanks for calling me god…" Hotaru-san said.

"You threw that apple in my head?" I asked her in surprise.

"Of course! Just imagining that you kissed the same lips as I did is already a turn off…" Hotaru-san told me, but I knew (don't ask me how, I just knew) that she was very jealous…

"Good thing I was near the light switches…" Sakura said.

"You turned off the lights?" Ruka asked her. She nodded.

"I didn't want the play to end in disaster… I worked so hard for it…"

"Well, I appreciate your help and all, but can't we eat yet?" I said.

Tonouchi, Ruka, Hotaru-san, Sakura and I decided to celebrate the play's success by having a dinner at my house, with roasted lobsters (my favorite) and crabs (Hotaru-san's favorite).

"The crabs aren't ready yet…" Sakura said, "Be patient, Natsume-kun…"

"Fine." I frowned. I had to wait for my roasted lobsters just because Hotaru-san's crabs were not ready. So much for 'Gentlemen first'…

* * *

"So, when are you flying back to America?" Ruka asked Tonouchi when the food was served.

"I'm not going back to America." Tonouchi said and started feasting on his crab.

"Don't tell me you're staying in Japan…" I said. The idea of meeting that annoying person every day scared me to no end. Not to mention the idea of him meeting Aoi in the near future…

"No, stupid." Tonouchi said, "Aww," he patted my head like I was a kid, "will you miss me?"

"OF COURSE NOT!" I said and pulled his hand away from my head. Who would miss a dude who was trying to hit on his sister, bring his best friend and his fake girlfriend back together and just messed up your hair-do? No one. Not me at least...

"Where are you going then?" Sakura asked and took a fork full of her spaghetti.

Both Sakura and Ruka didn't like seafood, so they decided to eat spaghetti instead… Weird huh? But that wasn't the weirdest thing of all. What I found weirdest is that they both ate in the same manner, they took almost identical amount of spaghetti at a time and they took a sip of champagne at the same time. They were almost like twins, for God's sake!

"I moved to America to be with Misaki… Now that we are apart, I'll go back to France and meet my parents. It's been a while and I miss French chicks…"

"All you can ever think about is chicks. Chicks this, chicks that, chicks this and that… Seriously, when will you settle down?" Sakura said, shaking her head.

"Misaki is the same age as I am, but you aren't questioning her single status, no?" Tonouchi said and ate some of his crab.

"She wants to focus on her career." Sakura argued.

"Which is the same as saying that she doesn't want to settle down…" Tonouchi murmured.

"Listen, unlike you, Tono, Misaki isn't inheriting anything. She needs to build her career. You can just inherit it from your parents." Sakura said sounding like my mother when she was talking about Tsubasa.

"When are you going?" Ruka asked, "We should all accompany you to the airport."

"I'm going to fly at 8 p.m. tonight. But I'm OK on my own. Besides, if you guys hover over me, no chicks are going to talk to me." Tonouchi said.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't accompany you anywhere fun for this whole month." Ruka said.

"No, I had a lot of fun going around and playing the lonely rich guy. Girls fell for it so well. Though there is one thing that I wish I could have done." Tonouchi suddenly became serious.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"I wish I could bring you and Ruka back together." Tonouchi said and smiled lightly. Ruka and Sakura signed.

"Listen, Tono." Sakura said and rubbed her temple, "Ruka and I broke up. Just like you broke up with Misaki. We're over. And, just like you and Misaki, we have decided to deal with all of that maturely..."

"But you guys were so in love. You guys were so happy together. I'm sure that that's impossible to fake!" Tonouchi pouted. His words made me wonder if my act with Sakura seemed fake.

"We were happy." Sakura said, "We decided to split up because we wanted to find a greater happiness than we already had."

"And we have found that greater happiness." Ruka said, "I found mine with Hotaru and, I hope, Mikan has found her greater happiness with Natsume..."

"I have," Sakura took my hand. I wanted to protest, because I was in the middle of eating my lobster... but I didn't, "I really have found my happiness..." She looked into my eyes. I was lost in those brown orbs and started wondering if what she said was true, if the fact that she was happy with me was not fake, if perhaps we had something between us… The reason why didn't even cross my mind.

"Well then," Tonouchi said and raised his glass of wine, "let's have a toast for you four for finding your greater happiness, as you say it…"

"And for you, Tono," Ruka raised his and everyone followed, "so that you may find yours in the future…"

"Not close future, though." Tonouchi said, "I want to be single for a while. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" everyone followed.

* * *

"Hyuga," Sakura called after all the guests went home.

"What?" I asked her, still half thinking about what Sakura said.

"Thank you." She said and patted my shoulder.

"For what?" I asked her and turned around to meet her brown orbs.

"For helping me during that play and for comforting me back in the ferris wheel. I really appreciate all of that…" Sakura said and smiled a bright smile that I only saw the first time I met her, "You aren't such an idiot after all!" She said and went away.

I felt my whole body burn and my heart beat crazily. For the whole night, her smile was all I saw whether my eyes were closed or opened…

* * *

"Hey, Tsubasa," I called Tsubasa in the middle of the night. I really hated this hallucination (of Sakura's face) and the insomnia that came with it.

"Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" Tsubasa said and yawned.

"Can you come over to my house please?" I pleaded him.

"Huh," He signed, "I'll be there in 5 minutes." He said and hung up the phone.

* * *

"Hey." He said and came into the house, "What's up?"

"I can't sleep." I told him.

"Again?" He said exasperatedly.

"Well, I…"

DING DONG. I heard the bell ring.

"I'll open the door!" I heard Sakura shout as she ran down in her really revealing PJs. She ran out the door and opened the door to a female.

The female came in, but Tsubasa and I couldn't even see her face as her cap covered her whole face and her hair was tucked inside that cap. As soon as she came in, she turned around, revealing nothing more than her back to us, to face Sakura.

"Mikan!" The female hugged Sakura and started crying. Right at that time, Tsubasa's phone rang and he went into the kitchen to answer.

"What's wrong, Misaki?" Sakura said and hugged the woman, "Where is your luggage?"

"It's in the taxi. I haven't even paid the driver yet." The woman said and sniffed.

Sakura went inside the kitchen and came out with some money. She ran out the door and brought in a bunch of suit cases. Strangely, Sakura possesed super human strength.

"Now, what's wrong?" Sakura said.

"He broke up with me! Tono texted me yesterday that he wants to break up!" The woman yelled and continued crying.

She must be Tono's ex, Misaki, the one that is Sakura's friend in America.

"Didn't he break up with you a month ago when he went to Japan?" Sakura asked.

"Is that what he told you?" the woman said.

I still couldn't see her face because her back was still facing me, "Tono said he went to Japan to check up on you and Ruka and that he will be right back! He never came back!" The woman cried even more.

"Pull yourself together!" Sakura said and ran her fingers through the woman's hair, "You're an adult already!"

"Tono is an adult! I'm just a teenage girl stuck in an adult's body! I have the right to not pull myself together!" The woman screamed and continued crying.

"OK. Calm down…" Sakura said as she spotted Tsubasa coming back into the room, "I have a very handsome guy behind you and he is supposedly single. So how about you wipe those tears away and flirt to your heart's content?" Sakura shook the woman.

"How hot is he?" the woman sniffed.

"Not as hot as Tono…" Sakura said after glancing at Tsubasa. The woman started wailing and cried even louder. I had to agree, Tsubasa was pretty good looking but compared to Tonouchi… uhm...

"I don't want to flirt with anyone that is uglier than Tono…" The woman cried.

"But he's hotter than Koko." Sakura said.

"Seriously? Why didn't you say so from the very beginning?" The woman sounded kinda happy. She wiped her face and took out some make up to put on herself.

"That's a pretty nice butt!" Tsubasa said to the woman (was that how he flirted?).

"Thanks," The woman started to turn around, "I like your sexy voice… ANDOU!" The woman asked in surprise as she faced Tsubasa.

"HARADA!" Tsubasa yelled. Harada was the name of the chain of 6 star restaurants, hotels and resorts that were known around the world.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" They asked each other at the same time.

"I ASKED YOU FIRST." They said, "NO YOU DIDN'T!"

"I'm here to visit my best friend, Mikan!" Misaki Harada(as I have concluded was her name) yelled as she grabbed Sakura.

"I'm here to check up on my customer, Natsume!" Tsubasa yelled back.

"Hyuga, this is my friend-slash-doctor, Misaki Harada. She's a part of the Haradas." Sakura gestured to Harada-san, "Misaki," Sakura gestured to me, "this is my latest fake boyfriend, Natsume Hyuga. He's the heir of Hyuga Corp."

"What is he paying you with?" Harada-san asked.

"A great show – tutu confesion." Sakura said.

"Booooooooooooooooooorring," Harada-san complained, "I liked it more when you made Ruka run around Alice Académie in his boxers at night."

"I know, I'm getting too nice these days... Now, you two," she pointed at Harada-san and Tsubasa, "already know each other, so why don't we just skip the intorduction and go up, Misaki?"

Harada-san and Sakura picked up the luggage and went up. Once again, Sakura possesed super strength.

* * *

Tsubasa and I went up to my room a few minutes later. Lights in Sakura's room were on and I could here laughter and crying at the same time. Girls are such a mystery.

"So you know Harada Misaki?" I asked Tsubasa as I replayed Tsubasa's and Harada-san's encounter.

"Unfortunately, yes." He said.

"What's your unfortunate relationship with that pink haired hottie?" I emphasized the word "unfortunate".

Misaki Harada, as everyone has told me already, was a playgirl known all over the world that was said to have settled a few months ago (probably when she met Tonouchi). Not the inheritor of Harada Corp., she had her own business and was around Tsubasa's age.

"We used to be engaged." Tsubasa said, "Arranged marriage, you know?"

"Yeah, some rich families do that to their children right?" I heard of a few cases. I was lucky enough to have parents that were against arranged marriage. Harada Andou arranged marriage was pretty popular around 5 years ago, I remembered.

"I was engaged to Harada since as long as I can remember. We went to the same school, had the same classes, and went to the same parties. We were basically stuck to each other whether we liked it or not. The year my father decided to make my half-brother, son of my dad and a mistress, the heir was also the year Misaki's mother gave birth to her baby brother and he became the official heir of Harada Corp."

"So the engagement was broken…" I figured out.

"Yep! The plan was to bring Andou Corp and Harada Corp together by marrying the two heirs. When both heirs were robbed of the inheritance, there's no reason to continue with the engagement, right?" Tsubasa said, "But that's a good thing… I could never imagine myself married to that pink haired playgirl… Maybe she wouldn't be like that if the engagement wasn't broken…" Tsubasa paused for a while, "But why should I care?" he said and snickered even though he sounded unsure of his words, "Anyway, about your insomnia…"

"Yeah, I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, Sakura's face appears. Every time I open my eyes, I see her face too. And every time I see that face, which is almost the whole time, my heart beats like crazy. What do you think is happening to me? Am I haunted? But Sakura isn't dead yet..." I gasp, "Or is she?"

Tsubasa smirked and said: "You're not haunted. The answer is much simpler than that…" and he paused, "You're in love with Mikan Sakura…"


	15. Chapter 15

Fake Romance

By: money127

Hello again! I seriously don't have a good excuse this time for not writing. I was just simply lazy (and it was Lunar New Year). My sister/editor told me that I needed to become more mature and less lazy, but I guess I just can't. Laziness is in my genes (actually no 'cause everyone in my family is very hard working).

Here's the new chapter and an apology for being a lazy writer that I am.

PS: This is a new version of the old chapter because I found too many mistakes.

**Previous:**

"Yeah, I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, Sakura's face appears. Every time I open my eyes, I see her face too. And every time I see that face, which is almost the whole time, my heart beats like crazy. What do you think is happening to me? Am I haunted? But Sakura isn't dead yet..." I gasp, "Or is she?"

Tsubasa smirked and said: "You're not haunted. The answer is much simpler than that…" and he paused, "You're in love with Mikan Sakura…"

"In love?" I asked in shock. This was definitely something I haven't thought of.

"Yep." Tsubasa said and nodded.

"Alright." I said, still terrified inside. I came to my desk and took out a pen and a piece of paper. I gave it to Tsubasa. "Write me a prescription."

"Prescription?" Tsubasa asked and raised his right eyebrow.

"There must be a cure to this." I said. I couldn't afford getting myself in love! I am Natsume Hyuga... I don't fall in love!

"Love is not a sickness – it's a miracle!" Tsubasa said and raised his arms in the air… He definitely looked like an orator…

"Do you know what happens to playboys that fall in love?" I asked him.

Love, for playboys, was the biggest nightmare and there was a very good reason why that was the case.

"Nope." Tsubasa said and shook his head.

"A playboy that has fallen in love is like a tiger that was brought to the zoo. All his playboy instincts will be caged! A playboy that was rejected by his loved one is a tiger that was turned into a kitty… He will lose all of his playboy ways and will never return to his old self again! NEVER AGAIN!" I said and shivered. Just talking about the day of doom was already scary…

"Wow… I didn't know you were so good at literature – must be an outburst of feelings… So … just to be short, you're scared of getting rejected!" Tsubasa said and raised his right eyebrow even higher.

I nodded. Well, I don't want to be rejected. Who knows how it feels? Probably bad and I don't want to feel bad… And imagine how she would react. She would say 'no' and then we'll be awkward and stuff. I'd rather be treated as an idiot than as a rejected playboy…

Tsubasa looked almost too relaxed, and then he said: "If that's all you're scared of, then there's an easy solution to all of this…"

"What is it?" I asked excitedly.

His relaxed expression looked promising. "Just make her like you!" Ok… Tsubasa said like it was a piece of cake…

My left eye twitched. "You make it sound so easy…" I said and signed, "Mikan is in love with Ruka, if you don't know, and I don't think she even sees me as an intelligent being!"

"Try cooking for her! Women like man that cook."

"Then how did chicks fall in love with me before?" I asked. I didn't cook, but chicks just fell under my feet… I liked that much more than the right-now-situation…

"I don't know," Tsubasa said sarcastically, "You're filthy rich, handsome AND you're an idiot… Yep, I have no idea…"

"Fine," I said, finally sick of his sarcasm, "I'll cook… try to, at least…"

"Good, now can I go HOME yet?" He asked and I remembered that it was past midnight.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Bye." I said as I opened the door for Tsubasa to go out. Right then, a loud scream and tons of laughter was heard from Mikan's room.

"Hey," Tsubasa said and took out a business card from his wallet. He handed it to me, "can you give this to Harada, in case she wants to talk?" He said.

I looked at the card. The name of Tsubasa's hospital was MiTsu, I finally noticed.

"MiTsu?" I read out. That was a very weird name for a hospital… very…

"That's for Misaki and Tsubasa. We both wanted to become doctor when we were kids, so I thought, you know…" he paused a little, "a hospital would be cool…" He said as his voice faded away, "Anyway, just give it to her, ok?"

"Sure." I said.

"Bye, dude!" He said, went out of the house, and then he turned around and said: "Best of luck, by the way!" and then he finally drove off…

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Good morning!" I said as I went down stairs to meet with Mikan and Harada-san.

Mikan was sitting on the kitchen table while Harada-san was cooking something that smelled pretty nice…

"Good morning, Hyuga!" Mikan said and waved, "Misaki wants to cook for us today. Don't worry, she actually knows how to cook…" Harada-san brought three plates of fried rice on the table, "Yum," Mikan said, "this looks good."

We all sat down and started eating.

As Mikan took the first spoon of rice, she started smiling, "This is so good!" she said and hugged Harada-san, "If you were a guy, I would have married you instantaneously…"

Those sweet words… I tried imagining if I was in Misaki's shoes right now. Those boobs pressing on my arm… Her marrying me… And all of that was from a plate of fried rice… Think of what she'll do if it was spaghetti. O la la…

"Hey, Misaki," Sakura called out, "for lunch…"

…

"I'll cook!" I interrupted. This was my chance. Now I needed to find a way to get Misaki out of the way, "Harada-san, Tsubasa left this to you." I gave Harada-san Tsubasa's business card.

Harada-san took it and looked at it, and then she said: "I think Natsume should cook lunch. I'll be going out till night." She said and went up after emptying her plate.

The enemy was out.

Let the trial begin!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

My first time making spaghetti was a total success. It looked good, it smelled good and I still looked good! Besides, the kitchen was decorated really well, with candles and stuff. Everything was ready for a romantic lunch! Mikan should be very happy… and then she'll marry me…

Mikan came down stairs and went into the kitchen. She sat down and I brought her plate of spaghetti. She looked down on her plate and her face became pale.

"Man," She said, "if this is a revenge for last time, then I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to make it taste that bad…" she looked terrified.

"No, this has nothing to do with that." I was trying to ensure her. She was probably talking about the time she made that inedible spaghetti… But I had my revenge. Plus, I can't think about revenge right now…

"Oh…" She said and took her fork, "Then I'm digging in."

She took a fork-full of spaghetti into her mouth. Then she looked up. Her face… OMG… too scary to be described… She shook her head and ran upstairs.

Hey, what did I do wrong?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

After epically failing at romantic lunch, I decided that it was time to ask an expert - an actual girl! I dialed Hotaru-san's number.

"Hello, Hotaru-san?" I said.

"What do you want?" She asked sounding very grumpy.

"What do girls like?" I asked her very slowly and carefully.

"Money!" She said and hung up.

So…

Money it will be.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-. 

I knocked on Mikan's door. "Hey!" She opened it, looking very angry.

"Here," I opened a suitcase full of $100 bills. $500,000 in total… Just what Hotaru said.

"That's too little you know…" She said.

I closed the suitcase and put it down. Then I took out my wallet and took out $1.

"Here." I gave her the suitcase and the dollar bill.

Mikan glared at me and … slammed the door.

What did I do wrong this time?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

After another epic fail, it was time to consult the friend. I looked up Harada-san's number and called her.

"Hello, Harada-san?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's me." She answered. I heard Tsubasa's voice from the background.

"I'm Natsume, Mikan's fake boyfriend." I said.

"Is that Natsume?" I heard from the background. Was this on loud speaker?

"What do you want?" She asked.

"What do girls like?" I asked her, trying to somehow make sure that Tsubasa won't hear it.

"Hyuga shoes." She said, "Aaaaah. These crabs look so good. Bye!"

Hyuga shoes… easy!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

Hyuga Corp. owned a lot of companies, one of which was Hyuga Shoes. Hyuga Shoes belonged to Aoi. She was the inheritor of that part of the corporation. Getting shoes was a walk in the park for me. I dialed Aoi's number.

"Yo, Aoi. I need your help…"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

By dinner, I had a nice pair of white high heels (size 37) ready to be presented to Mikan. When she came down to cook dinner (yep, I convinced her to cook something), I was already waiting for her with the shoe box in my hand.

"For you…" I said calmly and Mikan took the box.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the name on the shoe box, but her eyes went on fire of happiness when she saw what shoes I bought her. Yep, it was the newest pair of high heels; it hasn't even come out yet to Hyuga stores…

"OH MY GOD! Thank you, thank you, thank you…" She said and hugged me.

That felt so goooooooooooooood…

Then she sat down and tried the shoes on. But after she tried putting them on, she stopped being excited and put the shoes back in the box. She went up without saying a word. She didn't even cook dinner.

What did I do wrong?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

After epically failing all of my trials, I decided that it was time to talk to a real expert. A few days ago, a piece of paper with a phone number on it was found on the floor in Aoi's room. Turns out Tonouchi was serious about hitting on Aoi. The number was, of course, confiscated, but I kept it for emergencies – which I think is right now…

"Is this Tonouchi?" I asked as he picked up the phone.

"Who is this?" He asked almost sounding like he thought I was a stalker.

"I'm Natsume, Mikan's boyfriend." I said and heard a voice of a few females talking in French in the background.

"Oooooh, buddy. How have you been? Did you miss me? How is Aoi doing?" He asked very excitedly.

"I didn't miss you and Aoi is off limits, dude!" I said. He really thought that I was going to allow him to get near Aoi.

"Aaaaaw, you did miss me…" He said, "Anyway, what do you want from me?"

"Well, I tried pleasing Mikan… and I failed." I said, feeling even more ashamed then I felt before. I was a playboy yet I had no idea how to seduce Mikan or even what I did wrong to please her.

"Obviously… What did you do?" He asked. The French voices disappeared. (Thank god)

"I cooked spaghetti." I said.

"How did she react?" He asked. He kind of sounded like a police.

"She ran upstairs." I answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Have you ever cooked before?"

"Do instant noodles count?" They did, right?

"Mystery solved your cooking sucks. What else did you do?"

"I gave her money…" Girls liked money, for example Hotaru-san and… Uhm… weird… I'm sure that there were more girls that liked money.

"Who on earth told you to give girls money to please them?"

"Hotaru-san…" Who else?

"Hotaru is a money machine. You don't ask money machines what girls like. They'll probably answer money or oil or electricity. Do girls like oil and electricity? I don't think so… Girls don't like it when you give them money."

"Point taken." I wrote the new lesson down on a piece of paper.

"What else?"

"Shoes…"

"What brand?"

"Hyuga shoes, of course."

"What color?"

"White."

"Huuuuum" He paused, "What went wrong? What size did you buy?"

"37, the regular size…"

"You're an idiot! Don't you know…"

"Know what?"

"Mikan has really small feet! She even has a small complex with those feet. How dare you hurt her feelings by buying her a 37?" So Mikan was like a Cnderella?

"I'm sorry."

"Apologize to the lady." He said angrily. The guy may have been a playboy, but he sure treasured Mikan.

"What can I do?"

"Nothing. You're a lost case!" He said and hung up.

Well… I guess I am.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

After eating dinner (instant noodles – Mikan didn't even bother to go down anymore), I decided to stay in the living room to watch TV. As I turned it on, Mikan stormed down, looking very happy.

"Can I sit with you?" She said and sat right next to me on the sofa.

"Why so happy?" I asked. She was so pissed just an hour ago.

"My little friend Yoichi is visiting me tomorrow…" She smiled that angelic smile that I rarely got to see.

"Great!" I said.

Yoichi sounded like a guy's name, so I was kind of bothered. Just then, a show about gorilla's reproduction life started on Discovery channel (Yep, I do watch Discovery channel to learn more about the Earth). I immediately changed the channel… but the shows got no better.

"Ugh!" She frowned, "Give me that!" She snatched the control remote and changed the channels herself. But it didn't help. The channels were just plain… awkward! Just as we were about to give up, Mikan reached Disney channel and there it was, the most epic cartoon in the history – Phineas and Ferb!

"I love this show!" I yelled.

"Me too!" She screamed.

The next two hours consisted of us watching back to back Phineas and Ferb, singing the occasional songs and commenting on the awesomeness of the show. It was a paradise…

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

After the show ended (which was like 11pm or something), Mikan stood up to go to sleep. She looked back at me before going up.

"Today was fun!" She smiled her angelic smile.

Another sleepless night followed…

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

The next morning, when Mikan came down to make breakfast (Harada-san didn't come back yesterday), I was already in the kitchen with the new pair of white high-heels (size 35). As she came in, I kneeled down in front of her.

"The prince is sorry," I said, "he didn't know that Cinderella had such small feet."

I put the first high heel on her right foot and as she looked at me and I looked up, I felt like this was the most romantic moment of my life.

I don't know how much time passed, but the doorbell rang and Mikan ran out, leaving both high heels next to me (one in my hand and other in the shoebox). I guess the prince was once again left by Cinderella.

Mikan opened the door, revealing a little boy.

"Yo-chan!" Mikan hugged the boy tightly, "I missed you… so much."

"Hi, nee-chan!" The boy smiled. I had a bad feeling about the kid, but boy, did he look cute!

The little boy spotted me spotted me, "Who's that idiot?"

Oh no! Oh no! That kid had no idea who he was messing with…


	16. Chapter 16

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

Sorry it took so long even though I was on my spring break a few weeks ago. In this chapter, Yoichi call a lot of people nee-chan and stuff but they're not really siblings, it's just his way of calling someone that is close.

Also, I changed a little of chapter 15, but it's nothing major so don't bother re-reading it, ok?

I've got nothing else to say, so, enjoy chapter 16!

* * *

**Previous:**

I don't know how much time passed, but the doorbell rang and Mikan ran out, leaving both high heels next to me (one in my hand and other in the shoebox). I guess the prince was once again left by Cinderella.

Mikan opened the door, revealing a little boy.

"Yo-chan!" Mikan hugged the boy tightly, "I missed you… so much."

"Hi, nee-chan!" The boy smiled. I had a bad feeling about the kid, but boy, did he look cute!

The little boy spotted me spotted me, "Who's that idiot?"

Oh no! Oh no! That kid had no idea who he was messing with…

* * *

"Yoichi!" Mikan said and frowned, "Who taught you such a bad word!"

"Ni-chan!" Yoichi smiled. Oh my, he was such a cute kid!

"Ni-chan is a naughty boy. Do not learn bad words from ni-chan, ok?" Mikan said. She kind of sounded like a mother… a really hot one...

"OK." The boy said and walked towards me, "Yo-chan is sorry." He said and bowed his head.

"It's ok, kiddo." I said and ruffled his hair.

"Are you tired, Yo-chan? After a long flight from the US to here?" Mikan asked and pinched Yoichi's cheeks.

"Yo-chan flew to Japan two weeks ago already." The kid said, as he rubbed his cheek.

"How come?" She asked and leaned her head to one side. Aaaaaaaaaaaw! That was so cute!

"Yo-chan went to visit grandmother in Osaka. She was sick…" Yoichi said and mimicked Mikan's gesture.

"So you stayed in Osaka to look after your grandmother?" Mikan asked.

"Yep." The boy nodded, "Sorry, Yo-chan couldn't visit nee-chan soooner."

"Yo-chan is a good boy!" Mikan smiled, "Oh… this is Natsume Hyuga, he's my new comrade." She pointed at me.

"Comrade, bang bang!" Yoichi made a gun gesture. He pointed at me and smiled, "I'll call you ni-san."

"That's right." She said, "Nee-chan is going to make some breakfast so you stay here with ni-san, ok?" The boy nodded and Mikan came into the kitchen.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"I heard a lot about you from my subordinates..." The boy said right after Mikan came into the kitchen. His cute smile was completely gone, "I heard you were a rich idiot, who thought that he could just date Mikan and get away with it. But you were just one of her comrades…" He said and smirked.

"Wait, Youichi, 'idiot' is a bad word." I tried to teach him... Mikan said he wasn't allowed to speak like that… So she will get angry if she sees him talking to me like that…

"Who cares?" He said, "As long as nee-chan doesn't hear it, it's all fine." He said. "Anyway, an idiot like you should keep his hands away from nee-chan, you hear me?"

WHAT?

"Yo-chan, Natsume, breakfast's ready!" I heard Mikan's voice from the kitchen.

"Or else, I'll call ni-chan." He mumbled and glared.

"You guys, come in for breakfast won't you?" Mikan came out of the kitchen.

"Nee-chan," Yoichi came back to his cute self, "Ni-san taught me a new word!"

No I didn't!

"Oh really?" Mikan smiled and walked up to Yoichi, "What word did he teach you?" she asked.

"Old hag!"

HEY!

WHAT!

I never said that!

Mikan eyes opened wide in surprise. "Natsume is a bad boy." She said while looking at me, "Don't listen to what he says, ok?" She smiled at Yoichi, but I could feel the black aura surrounding her as she spoke.

"OK!" Yoichi said in his cute way, "Yoichi is sorry." He made a puppy-dog face. Yeah right, like you're gonna get away with it…

"Aaaaw!" Mikan ran to Yoichi and hugged him, "It's alright." She let go of him, "Now go inside and wash your hands."

As soon as he was out of sight, she told me: "I'm watching you, Hyuga."

"But… but…" I tried saying that I didn't teach the kid anything.

"Butts are for shacking!" She told me.

"That line is getting old." I told her and frowned. Not only was I blamed for something I never did, but I was also scolded by Mikan. Yoichi's head popped up from the kitchen and started teasing me while Mikan was glaring at me. Why was this kid so evil?

"If you teach him any other bad word," She said and raised her fist, "I'll make sure you won't be able to teach him anything. Understood?"

I nodded immediately.

"Good." She said and turned around to see Yoichi's angelic face smiling cutely, "Let's go eat, Yo-chan."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"So, Yo-chan," Mikan said after breakfast, "Are you going to live at your parent's mansion?" Yoichi nodded, looking very sad.

"Nee-chan!" he said and hugged Mikan. That brat was stealing her from me! HELL NO! "Yo-chan wants to stay here with nee-chan!" WHAT?

"But there're only 2 bedrooms in this house." She pulled him away. That's where a light bulb lit up on top of her head, "Yo-chan, how about you stay with ni-san?" She asked and smiled.

I opened my eyes in terror. I'd rather die than live with that kid… He's evil, and… evil! E-V-I-L B-O-Y!

I tried gesturing to Mikan that I didn't want to live with the kid. Yoichi probably noticed my terror because the next thing he did was…

"Yay!" He ran up to me and hugged me, "Yo-chan will stay with ni-san, ok?" he smiled.

"Uhm, yeah… about that… actually…" I was about to tell her that I'd rather refuse. But I looked at Mikan… She looked so happy… Well… "I'd love to stay with you too, Yo-chan!"

"That's great!" Mikan smiled even brighter than before, "Thank you, Natsume!"

It's weird how I'm about to commit suicide for her and still feel happy because she is happy. Love – it sure hurts...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Hey, Natsume." Mikan called me in the afternoon, "Can I come into your room?" I opened the door for her and she got in. There was no one but us that afternoon. Yoichi was nowhere to be found (probably playing somewhere – or spying somewhere) and Misaki wasn't staying with us anymore. (Was she staying at Tsubasa's place?)

"Here." Mikan gave me a big box.

I sat on my bed and opened the box. I thought it would be something cool but it was… a tutu.

"A tutu?" I asked her, not really sure how I was supposed to react to this.

"This is what Ruka gave me back when we were still going out and I was still practicing ballet." She told me and stood next to my bed. I picked it up, scanning it with my eyes, "At first I couldn't let it go, but now I'm finally over him, I think…" She said and put a ballerina crown on me, "and I can finally let go of this."

There was a long silence as we stared at each other…

"Thank you, Natsume. For whatever you did to help me." She said and smiled lightly…

By that time, my head was crowded with all kinds of thoughts.

"_She's over him!"_

"_She gave me a freaking tutu!"_

"_And a crown!"_

"_What could she mean by giving me these things?"_

"_But she's over him and that's all that counts right?"_

"_Hey…" _

"… _We're alone in my room…"_

"Good luck on confessing to someone with this on…" She smirked and went out.

"_So that's what she meant when she gave me this!"_

_-=-=-=-=-=-=-.  
_

"Nee-chan!" Yoichi said as he hugged Mikan when he came into the house, "Let's have a bath together!" He smiled.

"Yoichi, you're 6 now." Mikan pulled him away, "You're a big boy. Big boys don't take a bath with big girls."

"But Yoichi is scared of going alone." Yoichi pouted.

"How about Yoichi takes a bath with ni-san?" She said.

I tried gesturing Yoichi to say "no", but the kid didn't seem to get the message (or he did get the message and just wanted to torture me) because the next thing he said was:

"Yay! Yo-chan will take a bath with ni-san!" and smiled really brightly.

I wasn't sure if he was pretending to be happy or if he was happy to torture me while we take a bath…

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Did you stay away from nee-chan like I told you to?" He told me while we were taking a bath. The kid didn't seem to be scared of the bathroom at all.

"Why should I do what a little 6-year-old tells me to do?" I said, kind of embarrassed that I'm actually arguing with a kid who's less than half my age.

"Because I'm a 6-year-old that can call someone who you won't want to mess with." He told me.

"Who's that? Your nanny?" I teased him. Back then I had no idea who he was talking about.

"It's ni-chan." The boy said and smirked triumphantly.

"Who?" I asked. Just then I heard a knock on the door.

"Natsume, Yoichi, are you guys doing fine there?" She asked and Yoichi's smirk increased (if that was even possible).

"We're fine!" I yelled, even though we were totally not.

"You know," Yoichi whispered to me, "I used to take a bath with nee-chan back when I was 5. I got to touch her boobies too," and then he smirked… My blood started to boil, as I imagined that little devil doing stuff to Mikan, "and she didn't even complain. You know why? Because I was only 5! That's the advantage of us, kids."

By that time my blood was boiling like crazy. "Why, you little…" I grabbed the boy's hand.

"Nee-chan!" The boy yelled, and my bathroom door broke down immediately, revealing an angry Mikan.

"I knew it!" She said and dragged Yoichi out of the bathroom, "Come on, Yoichi. You're taking a bath in my room."

As she dragged him out, Yoichi turned around and mouthed "boobies" with a smile. That kid was pure evil, and now I had no bathroom door.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

At dinner the atmosphere was fierce. Mikan didn't say a word and focused on food while Yoichi kicking me from under the table. I was too scared to complain or to kick back. The kid was scarier than I thought. He was dangerous. Very dangerous.

"So, Mikan…" I started a conversation.

"What?" She said and glared at me.

"Are you going to watch Phineas and Ferb with me tonight?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind.

"Is it a new episode?" She asked looking a little bit interested.

"Yep!" I smiled.

"Then of course I'm watching!" She smiled happily.

"Yoichi wants to watch, too." The little boy pushed into the conversation. Thanks for so much ruining the romantic moment…

"Then Yoichi can watch, too." She smiled at Yoichi.

I knew that another scene of horror was awaiting me.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation…" The song started as I brought three bowls of popcorn…

"It's starting!" Mikan told Yoichi very excitedly. She was such a child when she watched this show. So was I.

"Phineas is so cool!" I screamed fan-girl style.

"Not as cool as Ferb! And he's hot!" She screamed.

"They're so cool!" Yoichi screamed, but he didn't seem as sincere. I guess he didn't like this show as much as we did.

"I know!" We screamed back. This was so much fun! No fighting with Mikan, no awkward moments with Mikan, no problems with Yoichi… No, I still had to look out for Yoichi. The kid was pretty dangerous.

"Nee-chan! Nee-chan!" The little boy called, "Is it true that big girls have boobies like cows do?" he asked innocently. My butt!

Mikan opened her eyes in terror. "Who taught you that?" She was completely terrified.

"Ni-san." He pointed at me.

I was dead…

"HYUGA!" Mikan yelled and turned off the TV, "DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO NOT TEACH HIM ANYTHING?" she yelled at me as she raised the TV control remote and threw it in my face (really hard, too). "Come on, Yoichi. I'll help you brush your teeth." She took Yoichi hand and went upstairs.

As they went up, Yoichi looked back at me and smirked triumphantly. He won, that was his message as he looked down on me and stuck his tongue out.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"This is your last chance, Hyuga." Mikan said as she handed me Yoichi in his pajamas, "I hope you'll take good care of Yoichi while he's asleep. Make sure it doesn't get too cold or too hot in the room and also if he wants to go to the toilet at night, accompany him. Do you have water for him to drink?" She asked me.

"Yes." I said automatically.

"Good." She said and went into her room, "Yoichi, be good, OK?" she smiled.

"OK." The kid nodded, "Good night, nee-chan." The boy hugged her. Why did he get to hug her and not me?

"Good night, both of you." She said and closed her room's door.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

Late at night, a weird noise awakened me. I opened my eyes, but then noticed that I couldn't move my arms, nor could I move my legs. There was a piece of cloth stuck in my mouth…

I WAS TIED UP!

A little shadow with an electric razor appeared.

Yoichi…

"So you woke up…" The little boy said quietly, "Don't worry, I'm just going to make you a little bold… that's all. I hate your raven hair, it's too soft…" The little boy smiled and brought the razor closer to me, "Nee-chan won't even notice the difference… Oh wait… maybe she will…"

I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. I wanted to yell, I couldn't.

The razor came closer and closer as I remembered the precious memories of me and my hair… How girls liked touching my hair… How much I liked washing my hair with all kinds of cool shampoo… How much I enjoyed getting a haircut that looked exactly like my old hairstyle… Those days that I took for granted…

And as the razor was only a few centimeters away, I used my inner power to break free. I took the razor from Yoichi hand and pinned him to the bed.

"Yoichi should be bold like ni-san, right?" I said and laughed like a maniac. Sweet revenge…

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

Just when the razor was an inch away from Yoichi, the lights came on. I turned around and met eyes with the scariest being in the entire universe: The Angry Mikan Sakura.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO YOICHI?" She yelled and pulled the kid away from my grip, "Come on, Yoichi. You're going to sleep with me tonight."

"I was so scared…" The kid started crying, "Ni-san was so scary."

"It's OK." Mikan hugged Yoichi, "Nee-chan will protect you." She took Yoichi's hand, "Let's go to sleep." The kid and Mikan started walking out of the room. Mikan suddenly turned around to look at me. "I'm going deal with you later." She said and went out.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"That's it." I told myself as I tried thinking of a way to get my revenge, "I've had enough of that kid." "But how do I get even?" I asked myself and took out my phone and dialed someone who I knew would help me.

"Hotaru-san, I'm Natsume." I said on the phone.

"What do you want?" She asked sounding kind of grumpy, "I'm sleeping."

"How much does it cost to bust a kid?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Idiot is in position. Cash, do you copy?" I said on my walky-talky a few hours later. I wasn't the one who chose "idiot" as my code name. Hotaru-san just decided on it on her own… She said, it is easier for her to remember, plus no one will recognize under that nickname. So unfair, right? Even though I'm the one that will pay $US 2 000 000 for help, apparently she was in charge…

"Cash is in position." My walky-talky responded.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked Hotaru-san who was on the other line.

"If it doesn't work, can I still keep my money?" She asked.

"No, so please make this work." I said.

"Operation Busted will commence in 5 seconds… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Hey." I called out for Yoichi, "Can we talk in private?" I asked him like a grown up man (I was one, wasn't I?)

"Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"If you don't want Mikan to here you talking to me so disrespectfully, you better come out." I said according to the plan that Hotaru-san worked up.

"Fine! You better not be plotting something funny." And that's exactly what I was doing.

"_Once the kid is no longer pressured by Mikan's presence in the house, he'll spill out anything that is in his head"_ I remembered Hotaru-san's words as I started speaking.

"I've had enough of you." I said.

"Eh?" the kid seemed surprised.

"I've had enough of your childish pranks." I repeated myself.

"So?" The kid said indifferently.

"No matter what you say, I'll never stay away from Mikan" I said.

"And I'll continue my pranks. I'll make you suffer so badly that Yoichi Hijiri will become a name that you'll fear forever!" He shouted like those monsters, and his sentence sounded like a curse.  
"Yoichi... is it true? Is it true that you were setting up Natsume all this time?" Mikan appeared behind Yoichi (credit goes to Hotaru).  
"Nee-chan..." The kid turned around.  
"Why? Why would you ever want to do that? You know that playing pranks on people is not good, right?" Mikan didn't seem to be scared or disappointed, she looked more like she was surprised.  
"Didn't nee-chan always play pranks on people?" The kid's eyes got a little wet, "Why can't I be like nee-chan?" He started crying like a baby.

Mikan looked a little flustered. "Yo-chan…" She said and paused, "I'm…" The kid kept on crying. Mikan hesitated for a little and then hugged him. "I'm happy that Yo-chan wants to be like nee-chan. I'm very happy." She pulled away from Yoichi and looked into his eyes. "But playing pranks on people too much will hurt their feelings. You still have to apologize to Natsume."

"Why?" The kid asked innocently. Again, really?

"Because he's a cry baby and he doesn't get our way of life. Next time you want to play a prank on someone, pick someone who'll take the prank well. OK?" She asked and smiled.

"OK." The kids nodded his head and wiped his tears.

"Good." Mikan stood up, "I'll go inside. You apologize to Natsume." She said and walked into the house.

"So all this time you were just imitating nee-chan, huh? It's OK, ni-san understands." I patted his head, he was such a cute kid!  
"Huh?" The kids smirked at me, "Did you actually think I was serious? You are really an idiot!" The kid was back to his old self, "I just said that to get away with the pranks. I know that you were behind all of this, but I won't do anything. Not me at least. I'll get some re-enforcement." He stood up and started walking back into the house.

"Who?" I asked, "Who are you going to get?"

"Ni-chan." The kid smiled, "Beware of ni-chan." He went into the house and locked the door… Wait… Locked the door?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Come on, Natsume, it was just a prank." Mikan said and smiled, "Right, Yoichi?"

"Yes, nee-chan." The kid nodded his head.

"Just let him sleep in your room tonight. Yoichi is flying back to America soon anyway." Mikan grabbed my arm, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeease."

"OK." I nodded. Who could say no to that angel and those boobies pressed up to your arm? Yes, no one!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"What type of person is that ni-chan of yours?" I asked Yoichi when we were lying on the bed.

"Why should you care?" He asked.

"That person is going to bully me just like you, so I better prepare myself at least." I said in the dark.

"Ni-chan won't bully you like me." The kid said.

"Oh…" I sighed in relief, "Really?"

"He'll make your life a living hell." I couldn't see the kid's face, but I was sure the kid was smiling, "Or even worse. One of the guys he bullied tried committing suicide. Of course ni-chan didn't let the kid die so easily. Now that person is in a mental hospital because of his excessive paranoia."

I gulped in horror. So that's where the kid got his evil personality…

"Is he close to Mikan?" I asked Yoichi.

"Very!" The kid said suspiciously. I felt myself get uncomfortable. Very close, huh…

"Hey!" I said, "You mentioned subordinates yesterday in the morning?" I said, remembering his words, _"I heard a lot about you from my subordinates." _"Who are those… subordinates?" I asked.

"We're called the MSPP, Mikan Sakura Protection Program, we look after nee-chan, get rid of everyone she hates or is just plain annoying…" The kid said like it was not some sort of secret information.

"Oh…" I said, "That's nice." Of course it's nice when everything that you don't like gets out of your way.

"Hey!" The kid called out to me, "Why do you like nee-chan?"

"She's nice, she's funny and she's very pretty too!" I said as I imagined Mikan's face, and, of course, body…

"Is that so…" The kid said, "Anyway, good luck with ni-chan. Actually, even luck won't help…"

The conversation ended there as Yoichi was too tired and went to sleep, while I was too terrified to ask more about this scary ni-chan.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-.

"Are you sure you'll be fine here all alone?" Mikan asked Yoichi the next day at the airport, "Why did your parents leave without you, anyway? Huh." Mikan sighed, "Parents…" She paused a little bit and frowned. Then she looked at Yoichi with a comforting smile, "How about I stay here with you until the plane comes?" Mikan was acting like a true sister. No wonder the kid called her nee-chan.

"I'm fine, nee-chan. You should go to school. Skipping one class to accompany me to the airport is already enough for me." The kid said and smiled.

"OK, then. Remember to not cause trouble on the plane. And call me once you arrive. Say hi to your parents for me. And call me every now and them! Bye, Yoichi." Mikan hugged Yoichi, "Say hello to ni-chan for me, too, OK?"

"OK!" The kid said and looked at me, "Bye, ni-san."

"Bye, kid." I said and patted his head.

Mikan and I started walking to the airport exit. I turned around to have a last look at the little devil kid, who will not be causing trouble to me and Mikan anymore… The kid was holding a phone to his ear, and as he noticed me, he mouth "ni-chan"…

I had a bad feeling that something awful was going to happen sooner or later…


	17. Chapter 17

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

This is a very long chapter (or so I think).

**So… there is this thingy in the Story Stats that has this that says C2s and I have no idea what that is. I have this "1" under it so I pressed it and like my story is in a community or something like that… I had no idea such a thing was even possible! So like how did my story end up there? 'cause like I don't even know how to use that thingy. Anyone who knows how this might have happened, please write to me.**

I'm not used to writing this fast but thanks to people that were telling me to update (when I really didn't want to), I decided to motivate myself and write this chapter really fast. So thank you for supporting me through all my bad chapters and silly OOC characters.

Enjoy chapter 17!

* * *

**Previous:**

Mikan and I started walking to the airport exit. I turned around to have a last look at the little devil kid, who will not be causing trouble to me and Mikan anymore… The kid was holding a phone to his ear, and as he noticed me, he mouth "ni-chan"…

I had a bad feeling that something awful was going to happen sooner or later…

* * *

"There's going to be a parent-teacher conference two weeks from now." Informed Narumi sensei after lunch. Mikan and I came back from the airport a few hours ago and I was feeling kind of paranoid (with the ni-chan and stuff), "The school will inform your parents but we'd like your cooperation in getting your parents here."

"Aaaaaaaaaah…" my classmates sighed.

It was that time of the year again… The time that parents tell their butlers and secretaries to come to the conferences instead of them…

"Now, then…" Narumi sensei took out his fancy fan (yep, he has one), "Bye bye." and walked away like a queen (no, not a king).

Everyone shuddered in disgust at his exit…

Just as we thought that he was gone, his head popped into the room. "Sakura-san, can you speak to me after school?"

Mikan nodded, "Great!" He smiled and the head disappeared.

I glanced to my right where I found Mikan's face pale and her hands shaking.

* * *

"Ah." I relax myself in the shower after dinner as I listened to "Only You".

The kid was gone (probably still on the plane back to America), his ni-chan was not targeting me (yet), I don't have to worry about parent-teacher conference ('cause even though I'm an idiot in life, I'm a genius in school!) and even though the bathroom door was broken, all I needed to do was to close my bedroom door and no one would come...

"Hey, Natsume!" Mikan came into the room and looked into the bathroom…

She stared…

I stared back…

She opened her mouth…

I closed my legs…

Awkward…

"WHERE'S YOUR BATHROOM DOOR?" she yelled in surprise.

"YOU BROKE IT, REMEMBER?" I yelled back and tried to find something to cover myself.

"Oh" she remembered, "Oopsie daisie." She smiled and covered her eyes, "Don't worry, I saw nothing." She went out and closed the door.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Mikan knocked on the door.

"Are you done?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said and she came in.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" She asked sweetly, …. and thousands of images that I shouldn't have thought of appeared (can't blame a teenage guy for this kind of stuff, right?).

"Wh… wh… wh… why would you want to do that?" I asked in panic.

"Well," she said and lied down on my bed and I noticed that she was wearing her sleeping gown (in which she looked very sexy), "I just want to." She said and closed her eyes, "Good night."

"Wait!" I shouted, "You can't just sleep like that! This is my bed!"

"You're so loud. Just let me sleep here tonight." She said and closed her eyes.

"No." I said and dragged her out of bed. No matter how much I wanted her to sleep in my bed with me in it, I wouldn't be able to sleep, so this was the only option, "Go back to your room." I said and opened her bedroom door. A sea of cloth rushed out of the room, covering both me and Mikan.

"Uhm…" she started her explanation, "I kinda need a bigger closet." She said.

I sighed. I thought I was the idiot. I walked back to my room and Mikan followed me. Sleeping with her wouldn't be that bad… Actually, it would be a dream come true (I technically dreamed of it)…

* * *

I turned off the light a few minutes later with Mikan on my left side. Her eyes were closed, but she kept on moving, so I guessed she wasn't asleep yet.

As I closed my eyes, I remembered the brand name flood that happened in front of Mikan's room around 10 minutes ago and tried to imagine how she has been sleeping for these past months. With so much cloth, how did she manage to even find space to study?

But she didn't seem to complain. I never heard her complain about how small the room was or how little of her original huge wardrobe she could put in her new closet…

Now that I think about it, she never complained about anything that came with this contract. She didn't complain about having to meet her ex-boyfriend on daily basis and talking like they are best friends during lunch. She didn't complain about the food in the refrigerator (or lack of it) and how small the bathroom was (there was no bathtub, dude – it is a commoner's house after all).

"Hey." I turned to face Mikan.

"What?" She asked sleepily.

"Why didn't you complain about this house before?" I asked her.

"Well," She opened her eyes, "I sighed the contract and if you didn't read it carefully enough, I agreed to not complain about circumstances that come with this contract." She was extremely professional (in such a weird profession, too).

Was she like that with Ruka, too?

Now that you mention it, did she ever have to sleep with him like this?

"Have you ever been like this with Ruka before?" I asked her.

"Like what?" She gave me a confused look.

"Like this." I repeated, "In the same bed at night and stuff…" I trailed off.

"Yeah." She said like it was nothing. I jolted up but calmed myself down.

"Really?" I asked her calmly though I was pretty jealous (yes people, I can admit that I'm jealous).

"Yep." She said, "But we weren't this quiet..." _Weren't this quiet?_ "And we were not next to each other, we were on top of each other." _On top of each other?_ "And we were much more passionate than this." _Passionate?_

"That was too much information…" I said and turned to the other side. I couldn't help imagining this stuff and it wasn't the best thing to imagine.

"But I haven't even started." She mocked me. What other stuff did they do that she hasn't even started describing? I was already burning up with the information she was giving…

I fell asleep as I thought of Mikan and Ruka on the same bed, on top of each other, being loud and passionate... That night I had a nightmare, that I couldn't tell anyone. Not even Tsubasa.

* * *

"Natsume…" I heard Mikan's voice the next morning as I was about to wake up, "Natsume…" I opened my eyes and saw Mikan in her sexy night gown. Was this a dream? If it was, then I'd rather stay asleep… I closed my eyes… "You might want to get your hands off me!" she said and I noticed that my arms were around her. When did that happen? "Wake up." She told me and even though I didn't want to, I removed my hands, "Do you have any idea where we are?" she asked and I took a good look at the room.

I looked around… Well, it was definitely bigger than my usual room, and there were big open glass doors which led to the balcony. I could see the ocean from afar.

Where were we exactly?

I found my phone under my pillow and used the GPS to locate us.

"Oh" I said as I looked at the screen, "We're in Hyuga Island number 13." I turned to my left to meet Mikan's fist.

"WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?" she asked angrily.

"Hey, I didn't do this." I told her because I really didn't.

There was a knock on the door.

"Welcome to Hyuga Island number 13." A woman said as she came in with our breakfast.

"Uhm… Excuse me, would you mind telling us why we are here?" Mikan asked innocently as she covered herself with whatever she could find. I almost forgot how "innocent" she was in front of other people.

"Oh." The lady said, "Don't you know?" Mikan and I shook our heads, "Today, Madam Hyuga has organized the first annual Best Couple Competition for High Society also known as BCCHS!"

Madam Hyuga?

…

Grandmother?

* * *

"I understand that we're on an island surrounded by the ocean and all that stuff" Mikan said as we walked on the beach towards where the competition was taking place, "BUT DO I REALY HAVE TO WHERE THIS SUPER REVEALING BIKINI?"

"You look OK." I said even though she didn't as I looked at her in her orange bikini. She didn't look just OK… She looked hot as in sun temperature hot. But I looked pretty hot myself.

As we neared our destination, I spotted Ruka with Hotaru-san and Tsubasa with Harada-san.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked as we finally reached our destination.

"I woke up and I was already here and Hotaru was sleeping next to me. A lady came in and told me that we were taking part in a couple competition."

"That's what happened to us. And we aren't even a couple." Misaki said as she frowned.

I looked around and identified some of the couples as students from my school, some seemed to be foreigners, some seemed like they graduated from school already and some looked like they just hit puberty. I also spotted Aoi and some guy that I never saw before. I needed to give her THE TALK before it's too late… (Well, look at the bright side – at least she was not with Tono!)

"Welcome to Hyuga Island number 13!" I heard Grandmother's voice as I saw her on the stage with a microphone in her hand, "Now I know that some of you are wondering what this is all about. Well, let me tell you: THIS IS SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, HOTTEST AND COOLEST COUPLE called Best Couple Competition for High Society…"

Claps followed.

"This competition will be broadcasted around the world and will reveal THE FITTEST, HOTTEST AND COOLEST COUPLE." And then she started blabbering about how this competition came about and how the Hyugas sponsored it, and how the Hyugas were the ones that organized it and how special this was for the Hyugas. Well, she talked about the Hyugas. Not that I'm complaining. Hyugas are the master race after all.

While she was busy giving the lecture, I was busy giving myself a lecture about how hot Mikan looked in her orange bikini… Can't blame a guy for staring… Besides, she didn't notice it… or so I hope…

And then she finally started talking about the prizes and my mind immediately started paying attention.

"Which ever couple wins this competition will get 2 our of these 3 prizes: the newest pair of Hyuga shoes,…" and girls immediately screamed as they saw the one item that all girls around the world wanted.

"…two tickets to Rabbit land," no one but me seemed to be excited about this prize, but I tried to look like I didn't care. Mikan looked at me and smirked. "…or two tickets to Tiger Island." I saw Mikan's eyes glow.

"You will be put into groups of six, three couples per group. The group that wins the first round will move on to the second round and couples will compete against each other." That's when I realized that this was something that Mikan and I didn't want to participate in. We skipped too many classes already, with all the things going on around us.

I was about to walk towards grandmother to ask to leave when I remembered Mikan's pale face yesterday. I stopped.

"Let's do our best." I told her and smiled.

I hoped that the competition would get her mind off whatever was going on back in Japan (yep, this was nowhere near Asia).

"Yeah." She said and smiled back.

* * *

"The first round is called Couple Pyramid." Grandmother said thirty minutes later.

All groups were already in place. My team consisted of Mikan and me, Ruka and Hotaru, and Tsubasa and Misaki (even though they kept on saying that they weren't a couple).

"Each group needs to make a pyramid made up of 3 people at the bottom, 2 people standing on their shoulders and 1 person at the top. Once the group succeeds in keeping the pyramid in 20 seconds, the group wins." Grandmother explained. "First round starts in 3… 2… 1… Go!"

As my team heard this, we started trying to stand on each other.

It took us a while to decide everyone's position. It also took as some time to figure out how to keep out balance. And by the time we figured these things out, Mikan stood at the top, Ruka, Tsubasa and I were at the bottom with Harada-san and Hotaru-san on our shoulders. Every second seemed like forever, as we tried to keep it together.

"Wow." Tsubasa said as he looked up, "Looking good, Harada."

"HEY!" Harada-san yelled and the pyramid crumbled after 5 seconds.

The next time, Harada-san refused to stand on top of Tsubasa, so this time, Misaki, Ruka and I were at the bottom, with Tsubasa and Hotaru-san on our shoulders. Mikan was still at the top. Gosh, Tsubasa was sure heavy…

"OH MY GOD!" Mikan screamed as she jumped down and the pyramid crumbled in 3 seconds, "Where did you get these pretty flip flops?" She asked as she stared at the flip flops Harada-san was wearing.

"LET'S DO THIS AGAIN!" I yelled and we started again. Thanks Mikan…

The third time, we decided that Harada-san's flip flops should be confiscated. This time, we had successfully stood in place for 15 seconds.

"5 more." I said.

"That guy is so hot!" Harada-san said.

"WHERE?" Mikan asked.

Misaki points….

And the structure crumbled once again…

Attempt number 4 was going very well. There were no hot guys around, flip flops were gone and Tsubasa didn't tease Harada-san.

"Ruka…" Hotaru-san said. 5 seconds have passed, "There's a 1 million pound check."

We all stared down and saw it near Ruka's left foot... I knew what was coming next…

"Hotaru…" Ruka said, "Just a few more seconds…"

"But I really really want it…" Hotaru-san said.

Just then, a light wind started blowing the check away from us slowly. How good can our luck get?

"10!" Grandmother yelled, "9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4!"

"Ruka! Don't let it go!" Hotaru-san yelled. Ruka tried using his foot to try to stop the check from flying but it was no use.

"2!..." Grandmother yelled, "1!"

"Hotaru!" Ruka yelled.

"0!" Right then, Hotaru-san jumped down and caught the check. The Pyramid crumbled, but we won! Yes, we were the first to build the pyramid… And also, I realized later, we were the only team that tried…

* * *

"The next round is called the ball and the can. The wining team will be split into 3 couples. The males will have a rope around their waist. A big stick will be tied to the end of the rope at the front. The females will have a rope around their waist too but instead of a stick, they will have a can tied to the end. The objective of the game is to use the stick to roll a small ball into the can. For that to happen, the male has to move his hips back and forth to get the stick to push the ball into the can. And of course, no competitor is allowed to use hands…" Grandmother explained. 6 assistants came out and tied ropes around our waists, "The wining two couples will proceed to the next round! Now! On your marks! Get set! Go!"

At first, the challenge seemed to be simple. All I needed to do was to move my hips back and forth to get the stick to swing and to push the ball towards Mikan's can. But as I came nearer and nearer to Mikan, I realized how embarrassing this was… Looking at our shadows, you would've probably thought that we were doing something bad... Yes, something very bad…

I looked at the other two teams to see how good their progress is…

While Harada-san and Tsubasa were struggling with the game, Ruka was trying to convince Hotaru-san to participate.

"Come on, Hotaru!" Ruka said, "It's not that bad… "

"Yeah." Hotaru-san said sarcastically, "And the way Natsume looks right now is not that bad, too."

"Hotaru!"

"Forget it." She said and stood up, "I'm out of here." She went away and Ruka followed.

"Since one couple is disqualified." Grandmother said, "The other two couples will proceed to the next round."

And I didn't have to embarrass myself anymore…

* * *

"This is the Final Round!" Grandmother said, "In this round, each person will take turns to answer a question about their boyfriend or girlfriend. The couple with the most points will win. The order in which the participants will answer is: Natsume, Misaki, Mikan and Tsubasa. Now, let's begin!"

"What is Mikan's favorite animal?" The first question was for me.

That was easy. "Tiger." I said.

"Wrong. It's rabbit."

What! That is impossible!

I looked at Mikan and saw an innocent look on her face.

Innocent girls do not like tigers...

"At what age did Tsubasa's voice break?" The next question was for Harada-san.

"13" She answered.

"Correct!"

"What's Natsume's favorite pattern?" It was Mikan's turn.

"Stripes."

"Correct!"

"On what side of her bottom does Misaki have a birth mark?" That was Tsubasa's question.

"Right." He said confidently.

"Correct!"

"How did you know?" Harada-san looked surprised.

"Please… You think that 16 years of being stuck with you taught me nothing about you?"

"What's Mikan's favorite color?" grandmother asked me.

"Orange."

"Correct!" Grandmother said.

"What does the name of Tsubasa's hospital stand for?" Grandmother asked Harada-san. She didn't answer. Some time passed.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0!" Grandmother counted.

"It stands for Misaki Tsubasa, idiot!" Tsubasa yelled.

"How was I supposed to know that?" She yelled back.

"What's Natsume's favorite dish?" Grandmother asked.

"Roasted lobsters." Mikan answered.

"Correct!"

"What the name of Misaki's 59th boyfriend?" It was Tsubasa's turn.

"Billy, Bobby, Ben, Nicolas, Hasid, Angus, Jo Min, Josh, Hsiao Minh, David, Baghdad, Carlos, Sergey, Nicholas number 2, Javier, George, Zach, Jack, CJ…" Tsubasa started reciting names of Harada-san's previous boyfriends as he counted with his fingers.

"10! 9! 8!" Grandmother said.

"John, Abraham, …" Tsubasa continued.

"6! 5! 4! 3!"

"Jeremy, Justin,…" Tsubasa reached guy number 57.

"2! 1!"

"Ryan!" Tsubasa yelled.

"Correct!" Grandmother said.

"I dated them after our engagement was broken off. How did you know about them?" Harada-san asked.

"Secret." Tsubasa said.

"Tell me!" Harada-san said and walked over to Tsubasa.

"No. Can't do." Tsubasa said and ran off. Misaki followed.

"Since another couple is disqualified, the winners of the first annual Couple Competition for Rich Society are Mikan Sakura and Natsume Hyuga!" Grandmother said. Audience applauded.

"Now, choose your prizes." Grandmother said.

I was about to choose two tickets to Rabbit Land, when I remembered that Mikan liked both tigers and Hyuga shoes.

I looked at her as she tried to decide which one to take.

"We'll take the Hyuga Shoes and two tickets to Tiger Island." I said and saw Mikan's surprised face.

And then she smiled and I knew that I made the right decision…

* * *

That night, Mikan and I arrived to Tokyo along with Ruka, Hotaru-san, Tsubasa and Harada-san. Strangely, Ruka's, Tsubasa's and my car were at the parking lot.

"I always wanted to tell you this…" I heard Mikan say as we drove back home, Wait… Is she talking to me… "I love you, Hyuga…"

I stopped the car.

Oh no…

This was so sudden. Not that I didn't want this… I did… I wanted her to like me…

But this was so weird…

I turned to her...

"… shoes." She was staring at her new pair of Hyuga Shoes, and as I continued driving us back home, she hugged them tightly.

So much for a confession…

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked her. She looked much happier than she did yesterday, "You looked kinda pale yesterday. What happened?" I asked

"It was nothing." She told me.

"Are you sure? Is this about the conference?"

"I SAID IT WAS NOTHING!" She yelled at me. A long silence followed.

"So…" I tried starting a conversation, "did you guys do it often?" I asked the first thing that came to my mind. Too bad I didn't think twice before saying…

"What?" She asked.

"Did you and Ruka do IT often?" I asked again.

"We never did IT." She said, "I'm a virgin."

"But you said you guys were very loud." I said, remembering last night's conversation.

"We had a lot to talk about." She explained.

"You guys were on top of each other." I said.

"Just because we were on top of each other doesn't mean anything happened." She told me as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"You guys were passionate." I told her.

"We had a passionate good night kiss." She explained.

"And you haven't even started on the details."

"We also played thumb war and rock-paper-scissors." She added. She looked so innocent. This was so unbelievable.

"But Tono-san said you had your first time with Ruka." I said. There was no way I misunderstood that.

"He misunderstood. He saw me in my underwear and Ruka naked with a condom in his hand and decided that we did it." She told me. I sighed in relief. Wait… Underwear?

"Ruka saw you in your underwear?" I asked her.

"So what? I saw you naked." She said like it was nothing.

"YOU SAID YOU SAW NOTHING!" I yelled.

"I lied." She said calmly.

"What did you see?" I asked her.

"I saw your hair, your eyes, your nose, your mouth, your ears, your chest, your arms, your abs…" And then she stopped for a while, "you legs and your feet. Yep, that's it." She told me.

"How come you didn't see it?" I asked her in surprise.

"See what?" She asked innocently.

"IT. How could you not see IT?" I asked her.

"I guess I just skipped it…" She said.

"It is RIGHT BETWEEN MY LEGS. HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE IT!" I yelled.

"So did you want me to see it!" She yelled back.

"NO!" I yelled.

"Then why did you ask!" She yelled.

A pause…

"So… did you see it?" I asked after I calmed down.

"Yeah." She admitted and I started blushing, "But don't worry. It was healthy." She reassured me… but somehow that felt more like an insult.

* * *

The next day, which weirdly was a holiday which no one ever heard of (I could guess that Grandmother was behind this.), I decided to go and visit Aoi to give her THE TALK. As I came down stairs, I saw Mikan preparing to go outside.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

"Uhm… I'll be spending my day with my parents today." She told me, "Bye." She said and went out.

Somehow, I had a feeling that she was lying.

* * *

"What exactly are we doing?" I asked Ruka, as we sat behind some bushes in a park. I was going back after meeting Aoi when Ruka called me and summoned me to the park. See, I'm not the only stalker here…

"Watch and you'll know." Ruka said and he pulled out two binoculars. I took one and looked in the same direction as he did. I spotted Hotaru-san and another dude.

Ruka pulled out a walky-talky. "Release the beast!" He said and right then, a panda started chasing the dude. The dude ran away, leaving Hotaru-san alone. "Hehehe…" Ruka laughed, "That's what you get for trying to flirt with my girlfriend."

"Of all animals in your private zoo, why panda?" I asked him, still surprised about how weird this all was. Ruka, the male version of the innocent Mikan, has released a panda just to get rid of a love rival.

Hotaru-san shrugged and walked to an ice cream store. She took out her phone and dialed a number. The next second, Ruka's phone rang and he picked up.

"The panda was cute." She said and hung up, bought an ice-cream and disappeared from our sight…

"If any other animal attacks, she'll use her weapons to suppress it, but not pandas. She loves them far too much…" He said and smirked. Yep, he smirked…

"You changed, didn't you…" I asked. He used to be so nice.

"When I started to go out with Mikan, I needed to upgrade myself a little bit. I couldn't just let Mikan push me around." He smiled, "I also couldn't let someone else steal her away." He said, his eyes looked like he was looking back at the past, "Be careful, Natsume, or she might just slip away between your fingers." He said like an old man passing down his wisdom to his kids.

…

That's when I realized that in my case, it will be much easier for her to slip away from me, because we had no relationship. And that was also when I realized that I needed to start this relationship, now…

"You know what? I gotta go." I said as I walked towards my car.

Confessing to her won't be that hard… right?


	18. Chapter 18

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

I had exams. That's the only excuse I have for posting chapter 18 after one whole month. But I did get good grades so I guess it was worth it. Yay me! I also had to help my parents remodel the house.

Enjoy chapter 18!

* * *

**Previous:**

"You changed, didn't you…" I asked. He used to be so nice.

"When I started to go out with Mikan, I needed to upgrade myself a little bit. I couldn't just let Mikan push me around." He smiled, "I also couldn't let someone else steal her away." He said, his eyes looked like he was looking back at the past, "Be careful, Natsume, or she might just slip away between your fingers." He said like an old man passing down his wisdom to his kids.

That's when I realized that in my case, it will be much easier for her to slip away from me because we had no relationship. And that was also when I realized that I needed to start this relationship, now.

"I gotta go." I said as I walked towards my car.

Confessing to her won't be that hard… right?

* * *

"Sakura Real Estates. Tokyo Quarters. How may I help you?" I heard a soft voice on the phone. Sakura wasn't answering her phone, so I decided to call her father's office. Who'd know Mr. Sakura's schedule better than his secretary? Absolutely no one.

"Hello, I'm Natsume Hyuga, Mikan Sakura's boyfriend." I introduced myself.

"Hello, Mr. Hyuga, how may I help you?" The woman asked again.

"Do you know where Mr. Sakura and his family are spending their day today?" I asked her. Mikan said that she was spending her day with her family today (even though I somehow felt like she was lying to me, this was my only way to find her).

"Mr. Sakura is currently in Stockholm on a business trip. Mrs. Sakura is currently in Tokyo, but I do not have her schedule. I must apologize for not being of any assistance to you, Mr. Hyuga, but I do not have Ms. Sakura's schedule as well. Perhaps Ms. Sakura's head butler can help you." The secretary spoke.

"Thank you." I hung up and dialed the Sakura mansion. Well that didn't help...

* * *

"Sakura mansion, Tokyo residence. How may I help you?" I heard a voice of an old man.

"Good morning. I'm Natsume Hyuga, Mikan Sakura's boyfriend. Do you know where she is right now?" I asked.

"Ms. Sakura went to the late Madam Sakura's grave just an hour ago, Mr. Hyuga." The man said.

I frowned a little. I should've been called Master Hyuga by now, how come I was still not a part of the family?

"You mean Mikan's grandmother?" I asked the old man.

"Yes." He said.

"Where is the grave?" I asked.

* * *

"Did she really have to lie to me about this?" I asked myself as I drove to the Sakura cemetery. Sure she had a reason to lie to me about Ruka, but her grandmother? Really? The more I lived with her, the more I saw how immature and unreasonable she was and yet that didn't stop me from liking her. Was this love?

I neared the gates of Sakura family cemetery and asked the gate keeper where Mikan was.

"Ms. Sakura left just a few minutes ago." A young man replied.

"Thank you." I said and drove away. I dialed the Sakura mansion… again.

"Sakura mansion, Tokyo residence. How may I help you?" I heard a voice of an old man.

"Do you know where Mikan is?" I asked quiet rudely.

"Ms. Sakura just returned home, Mr. Hyuga," That girl was making me run in circles, "but I advise you not to come here at this moment." The man said a little nervously.

"And why is that?" I asked him.

"There are a few issues." The man said. Something about his voice made the issue sound a little serious, not that I cared.

"I'll be there." I said,ignoring his advice.

"Wait, Mr…"

I hung up. I'm pretty sure his issue is nothing compared to me not being able to confess to Mikan.

* * *

"Natsume Hyuga, I'm here to see Mikan." I said to the gate keeper in Sakura mansion.

"I'm sorry, but the head butler ordered me to not let Hyuga Natsume into the mansion." The gatekeeper answered. That old man sure was prepared. I was pretty impressed… No wonder he was a Sakura butler.

"Either you open the door or I'll open it myself after beating you up." I said in a scary voice (that I had no idea I had), "So, what's it gonna be?" I glared, trying to imitate Mikan's ninja glare that always worked with me. The gatekeeper swallowed nervously and opened the door.

"Thank you." I said before driving in. That worked quiet well. I can actually get used to acting cool… Not that I don't…

* * *

"Mr. Hyuga, there are a few issues that need to be solved in the house, would you mind visiting some other time?" The head butler asked the moment I stepped on the stairs outside of the mansion. He really was persistent, huh?

"As a future addition to the Sakura family, I think I can be of some assistance when it comes to issues in this house, don't you think?" I tried to look as cool as ever, even though I was thinking and rethinking how to confess to Mikan.

"Mr. Hyuga, I don't think you'd like to participate in this issue. Perhaps, I can serve you some tea in the garden?" The head butler offered.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I want to see Mikan and whatever issue it is that you're trying to hide from me." I demanded. The head butler paused and then sighed.

"Please follow me." He said as he led me into the house. I didn't expect to get in this easily, "Please be quiet." He said almost in a whisper as we passed the living room and proceeded up stairs. We entered a hallway on the second floor. The hallway was quiet dark and only one room had lights on. The head butler gestured for me to look into the room.

Mikan was standing in the room, her back facing me. Another woman was in the room. She looked like the 30 year old version of Mikan, beautiful and stoic. The head butler bowed to me and walked away.

"Mother, there is a parent teacher conference next two weeks from now at my school. Would you mind coming?" Mikan asked. She sounded so scared and so nervous. I never knew that Mikan can be scared of anything (apart from confronting her ex-boyfriend).

"Actually, I would mind coming, so ask your dad to come instead." The woman answered.

"Father won't come. Do you think you can spare some time this month to come to school? Narumi-sensei said that anytime this month will be ok." Mikan asked again, more quiet than last time. She said it so quietly that I could barely even hear her voice.

"I said "No!" the woman yelled, "You're such a nuisance." She said and started for the door.

"Mother…" Mikan grabbed her mother's arm. The woman slapped Mikan and she fell on the floor.

"It isn't my fault your father doesn't give a damn about you. I'm not going to the conference. I have more important things to do." She said and went out.

I hid myself in the dark as I waited for her to leave. Mikan was still sitting on the floor, her cheek bright red.

I would never look at Sakura's Real Estate commercials the same way again.

* * *

I was about to go down the opposite set of stairs, when I stumble upon a vase and accidentally broke it. Mikan ran out and spotted me. She looked surprised and ashamed at the same time. I was so busted…

"Go home." She said and went back inside the room.

"Wait!" I yelled as I followed her in.

She closed to door on me. "Go home!" She yelled.

"And what will you do once I'm gone? Cry yourself to sleep? Throw a tantrum inside? Go shopping?" I asked her, "Or would you rather have someone who you can talk to? Someone who will drive you home and will make sure you won't get into a car accident because of anger." I offered. Slowly, Mikan opened the door. Her face was smudged with make-up and her cheek was still very red. I came into the room. Mikan sat down on the bed and I sat down next to her. This kinda felt like one of those mother and daughter talks about boyfriends and stuff only the other way around.

"My mother doesn't like me." She said.

"I kind of got that from the scene earlier." I told her, even though it was quiet obvious, "Why?" I asked her.

"It's a long story." She signed and said.

"I have plenty of time." I told her. I was no longer rushing to confess to her. That moment I was only concerned about Mikan's family problem…

Mikan leaned her head on my shoulder and I felt her tears wet my shirt. I thought of patting her head, but decided not to (you know those times when you just hesitate for no reason).

"It was supposed to be a one night stand. That's what mother said. She said that she didn't want to have me. But she did get me. The Sakura family is known to be the most polite elite family. Grandfather didn't want anyone to know about my father having a one night stand with a commoner. He made them get married and told everybody that his son fell in love with a commoner and that the Sakura family always supported true love." Mikan told me and paused for a while.

"Your father must have hated it." I said and felt Mikan nod. My parents were also forced into marriage but at least they had a list of candidates to choose from.

"Father and mother were never happy together. But I always thought they were when I was a kid. My mother was so gentle, so nice and so happy. That's what I thought at least. Everyone hated mother. They said bad things behind her back. Even the Sakura family members thought she was a nuisance. When she realized what was going on, she fell under pressure, turned mad. Mother was never the same anymore. She went shopping; she went to charity events and other things that would raise her reputation. Her reputation did rise and everyone seemed to have forgotten about her background. She hated me though. She said that I took away her free life outside. She said that she wanted to go to university, but couldn't because she was too busy looking after me at the age of 17. She said that she would've been happy if I haven't showed up." I heard Mikan sniff.

"Father doesn't care about me. He knows that he can't go and divorce mother, so he just works all the time and avoids going home. When I call him, he'd put more money on my credit card. But that's as caring as he gets." She told me, "You probably think I'm pitiful right now. Dumped by my boyfriend, ignored by my father and hated by my mother. And now I pretend to go out with rich man to pass the time. Sometimes I even lie about going to dinner with my parents or having a picnic with them. The Sakuras think I'm crazy, everyone else believes it. How pathetic of me!" She said. Wow! I never thought that Mikan was capable of a pity party.

"Well…" I said, trying to find a way to comfort her, "I don't think Mikan Sakura is that pathetic." I told her and heard her sniff, "I mean she has 2,000,000 fans across the world. 1,500,000 of which are a part of Mikan Sakura worldwide fan club. 900,000 of memorized your whole birth certificate. 750,000 of which enrolled into Gakuen Alice to get to be with you. 500,000 of which were responsible for the Mikan Sakura Resting House in the middle of the South Forest. 150,000 of which wrote a blog to curse me for going out with you. 50,000 fans kiss the ground you walk on. 10,000 fans actually worship it." I told her, trying to remember the survey statistics from Sakura Fan Club website (I needed to check my enemies, you know), "I don't know about you but in my opinion, Mikan Sakura is a pretty amazing girl."

"Well…" Mikan said, "I guess I'm not that pathetic."

"I don't think you ruined your mother's life. Think about it. If she wanted to continue studying, she could've continued to go to school after giving birth to you. She could've hired a tutor, too since now she was loaded. I think she's living quiet well here too. She has all the money she can spend, all the cloth she can wear and plenty of places to call home. She has a beautiful daughter and a successful husband who, by the way, may not love her, but that gives her even more freedom to do whatever she wants. I know this might sound shallow, but there's always a bright side to everything and she just likes looking at the dark side and blaming all of it on her daughter. Also, if she practiced safe sex that time with your father, maybe things wouldn't have turned out this way, so she has no right to blame it on you. I, personally, am very grateful that that night she got pregnant with you. You're a great friend, a little immature and unreasonable, but you're great. I doubt I'd be able to find a better fake girlfriend than you." I heard Mikan giggle and that made me happy. I mentally gave a pat on my shoulder for being able to cheer her up.

"Thanks." She told me, "You're a great fake boyfriend too."

I smiled to her. I wanted to confess to her, but I knew that I couldn't. Not now. Not when she was so vulnerable…

"Now," I said and stood up, "Shall I drive you home?" I offered her a hand.

She took it and stood up. We went down stair with her at the front.

"You know," I said as we went out of the house, "I can always share my family with you."

Mikan seemed to pause a little. There was a long silence. Mikan slowly turned around.

"Thanks, but I don't fake marry people." She smiled and continued walking to my car.

That's right, I thought to myself. Before I can have you, I'll have to let go of you first…

* * *

"Come to have lunch with me today." I heard Grandmother say on the phone the next day, "and bring Mikan along." She told me, "It's been a while since you had lunch with me and Aoi."

"Sure." I told her. "I'll see you at 11, Grandmother." I told her and hung up.

* * *

"We need to hurry!" I yelled at 10:45.

"I know! I know! This is all your fault! Who tempted me to watch Phineas and Ferb, huh?" Mikan yelled at me.

"We don't have time to argue. Get dressed!" I told her. Mikan opened the door to her room and faced the flood once again. As she came out of the stack of cloth, she picked up a dress and ran into my bathroom. She was about to close the door when she realized that there was no door to begin with. She ran into my room and locked me out.

"Hey!" I yelled and banged the door, "You're not the only one that has to change, you know!"

No sound came out of the room. I sighed. I was going to wait for Mikan to be done, when I realized that her cloth were still on the floor. I looked at her cloth for a while and found a few items that I could actually wear and look stylish enough. I picked up those items and started to change. Just as I was about to put on her pants, Mikan came out of my room.

…

She stared at me.

…

I stared at her.

…

There was a very short silence.

…

"Oopsie daisy." Mikan said, came back into my room and locked the door.

I need to get my bathroom door, fast…

* * *

"Ah." Grandmother said as she sipped her tea, "You're just in time." Mikan and I were present in the guest room and 11 sharp thanks to my awesome driving skills and Mikan's scary shouting voice (which was directed at me for not speeding up even more).

"Please accept my apology, Grandmother." Mikan said and bowed slightly, "We got too carried away with our previous activity."

Grandmother's eyes widened and started to sparkle. I knew what was going through her mind… I knew that she thought that we were doing something else rather than watching Phineas and Ferb…

"Oh, no no no." Grandmother said, "I'm more than happy to wait for you to come, if it means that I get a great grandson soon…" She smiled and started laughing like a maniac. It's been a while since I heard that laugh…

"Grandmother, your laugh…" I heard my sister's voice as she came into the room, "Nii-chan!" She yelled and hugged me. She paused in the position before she started to sniff me. She moved on to Mikan and sniffed her too, "You guys smell like each other. Next time you want to look like nothing happened please use different perfumes after your activities." I saw Mikan fake blush as she giggled. Aoi really embarrasses me sometimes…

"Hello," Mikan extended her hand towards Aoi, "I'm Mikan, Natsume's girlfriend."

Aoi stared at her hand for a while before hugging Mikan tightly. "Welcome to the family, Mikan-chan." Aoi hugged Mikan tight and just stood there for a while. Mikan seemed surprised. She started blushing and smiled from ear to ear like a happy kid. Was she this desperate for a family?

"Thank you." She said a little shyly.

"Knock knock." I heard from the door.

"Our final guest is here." Grandmother said and stood up.

The door opened. By the time I saw who came in, I really wished it was Tonouchi or one of my ex-girlfriends… but not this person…

"Isn't it wonderful!" Grandmother said, "Mikan's mother was in Tokyo so I invited her to have lunch with us. Natsume, say hello to your mother in law, won't you?"

Did it really have to be her?

* * *

"You are such a beautiful woman, Mrs. Sakura, or should I call you Yuka, now that we are going to be family?" Grandmother said as we started eating lunch.

"Yuka is fine." Mikan's mother said as she smiled.

I could feel the tension between the two Sakuras. So called mother-in-law was really good at acting. Just like Mikan…

"Mikan looks so much like you, Aunt Yuka." Aoi said and stared at the mother and the daughter, who, by the way, were forced to seat right next to each other.

"Oh, do I?" Mikan asked happily (-ish). Like mother like daughter (no matter how much they hated each other)…

"Yep, your eyes look exactly like Aunt Yuka's." Aoi said and dug into her lobster.

"I hope my great grandson will inherit those eyes, especially the eye brows. So long, so beautiful." Grandmother said a little self conscious of her own eyes brows. Now you know where I got my eyebrows from…

"I'll be a grandmother soon, won't I?" Mikan's mother said and smiled. If only what she said was true.

"Yep, we should start thinking about names, Yuka." Grandmother said and took out a book of names. Where did that come from?

"Speaking of names, how about we make Mikan a Hyuga soon?" So called mother-in-law said.

I saw Mikan pause with her spaghetti as she stared blankly into the plate. I tried sending her reassuring brain waves but failed.

"Oh, that would be so great!" Grandmother said and clapped her hands, "But is it ok to take such a wonderful daughter away from you, Yuka." Grandmother looked apologetic.

"Actually, I'd be happy to share my daughter with such an elite family." Mother-in-law said.

I frowned. Mikan wasn't an item; how could she be shared?

* * *

"The lobster sure was good, huh?" I asked her as we drove back home. The lunch ended with awkward goodbyes and so much tension, that only grandmother was dense enough to not sense it (yep, there's actually someone who is more dense than me).

"The spaghetti in your mansion needs adjustment. Not that I'll have enough authority to change it." Mikan sneered, "Speaking of names, how about we make Mikan a Hyuga soon?" Mikan mimicked her mother.

"You sound like a teenage girl." I told her.

"I AM a teenage girl! And that teenage girl is not ready to get married." Mikan said. I always saw her as a smarter being, so I never really met this Mikan before. So childish… So rebellious… So teenage-ish…

"You know, getting married is…" I didn't get to finish my sentence, because as I drove next to our ordinary house, another car drove by.

Mikan's mother came out…

Mikan's face changed from anger to fear…

"Can you please let me talk to my daughter?" mother-in-law said as she smiled.

I looked at Mikan. Her hands were shaking furiously. It took a few seconds for those pale hands to calm down. Mikan came out of the car, smiling.

"Natsume-kun, would you mind if we use the house for a while?" She asked cheerfully. Mikan led her mother to the door of the house. Her mother's face started back to the way she looked when she slapped Mikan.

That's when I decided that I couldn't just leave things that way. I ran out of my car and to the door.

"Sorry," I said and put my hand across the door, right between Mikan and her mother, "I think I would mind if you come in." I told Mikan's mother, "In fact, would you mind leaving?"

* * *

"You know, that wouldn't resolve things permanently…" Mikan said over dinner. That was the first thing she said to me after the incident.

"You were shacking. I had to do something!" I told her and grabbed a forkful of instant noodles (yep, Mikan didn't feel like cooking).

"Thank you." She said and ate her share, "I feel a little ashamed. You are the costumer, yet I'm bothering you with my problems." She said and lowered her head.

"Nah." I said, "It's OK." There was something about sharing her issues with me that made me feel like we were closer than before. It made me feel like there was a change (in a good way) between us and I kinda liked it… a lot…

"Hello," Mikan answered her ringing phone, which I didn't even notice until now, "Really? ... When? ... Tomorrow? ... Why didn't you tell me sooner? ... I'll be there." As Mikan spoke on the phone, her voice became more and more cheerful and by the time she hung up, she was crazily excited.

"Who was it?" I asked. Something about the way she looked made me feel a little uncomfortable. Something about her voice made me feel like she was talking to a guy. Something about her talking to a guy ticked me off. Something about her conversation made me guess that that guy was probably arriving here tomorrow.

"It was a friend of mine." She said and smiled, "He's arriving to Tokyo tomorrow."

Bull's eye.

* * *

"How come he's arriving so early in the morning?" I complained the next morning at 6am. Just half an hour ago, I was sleeping peacefully in my bed, (yep, Mikan finally found a place to sleep in her own room) but we had to wake up to see some dude who decided to arrive early. That dude sure didn't have a nice timing.

"This is the earliest flight from Kyoto. He missed me, you see…" Mikan said as she drove her silver car (yep, she was driving since I was still sleepy).

"How can you be so proud of him missing you?" This was so ticking me off. How come she was so happy to see him? How come she was so eager to drive so early in the morning just to see him? How come I had to come alone?

Actually, I asked to come, since you never know what type of guy she's meeting. What if that dude is handsomer than me? What if that dude is richer than me? What if he knows Mikan more than I do?

* * *

Mikan and I came out of the car and stood near the airport.

"What's the name of the dude?" I asked her just to be prepared.

"Koko. Kokoro Yome. You know Yo electronics right? Yophone? Yopod? Yopad?" She asked. I nodded, "Yep, that's his father's." She said and walked ahead.

I dialed Ruka.

"Hey, Ruka." I said when he picked up.

"It's 6 in the morning, man." He said, "What do you want?"

"Charge him for waking me up so early." I heard a feminine voice in the background. Hotaru-san? Wow… I guess someone had a good night…

"Do you know a dude named Kokoro Yome?" I asked him when Mikan was looking through the boards to find the gate.

"Kokoro Yome?" Ruka asked sounding very surprised.

"Yeah." I said, as Mikan gestured me that a certain person has arrived, "Dude, I have to go. That dude has arrived…" I said.

"Wait, be careful." Ruka said.

"Why should I?" I asked him.

He sounded a little scared. "He's the reason why Mikan and I broke up." He said.

"_Ni-chan." The kid smiled, "Beware of ni-chan."_ I remembered Yoichi saying.

"_He'll make your life a living hell."_ Yoichi's words echoed in my head.

_The kid was holding a phone to his ear, and as he noticed me, he mouthed "ni-chan"… _I remembered the last time I saw Yoichi.

I started putting two and two together…

"Natsume?" I heard Ruka still on the phone.

"Ni-chan has arrived." I could hear Yoichi's voice in my head. I felt goose bumps all over my body…

"Natsume," Mikan said as she led a blond guy with his luggage towards me, "this is Koko."

"Hey." The guy said and smirked the same way as that kid… Yoichi…

"_Ni-chan. Beware of ni-chan."_

I'm so dead…


	19. Chapter 19

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

It took me a while to put together this new chapter. First of all because there were a lot of things to consider. Second of all because once considered, these things had to be put in order. And third of all because once put in order, I had to see if I was missing anything. I was also very lacking of motivation (lazy me).

There was so much to read (Jane Austen rocks!), including manga (Shiawase Kiss Sanchoume, Skip Beat, Vampire Knight, Pandora Hearts, etc…) which totally distracted me from my writing. Overall, I am to blame for being tempted, so I'm very sorry if you guys had to wait long.

I'm afraid that this chapter might not flow well and might be a little dry. Please enjoy chapter 19 no matter how bad it might get (is that too much to ask?)!

* * *

**Previous:**

"Do you know a dude named Kokoro Yome?" I asked him when Mikan was looking through the boards to find the gate.

"Kokoro Yome?" Ruka asked sounding very surprised.

"Yeah." I said, as Mikan gestured me that a certain person has arrived, "Dude, I have to go. That dude has arrived…" I said.

"Wait, be careful." Ruka said.

"Why should I?" I asked him.

He sounded a little scared. "He's the reason why Mikan and I broke up." He said.

"_Ni-chan." The kid smiled, "Beware of ni-chan."_ I remembered Yoichi saying.

"_He'll make your life a living hell."_ Yoichi's words echoed in my head.

_The kid was holding a phone to his ear, and as he noticed me, he mouthed "ni-chan"… _I remembered the last time I saw Yoichi.

I started putting two and two together…

"Natsume?" I heard Ruka still on the phone.

"Ni-chan has arrived." I could hear Yoichi's voice in my head. I felt goose bumps all over my body…

"Natsume," Mikan said as she led a blond guy with his luggage towards me, "this is Koko."

"Hey." The guy said and smirked the same way as that kid… Yoichi…

"_Ni-chan. Beware of ni-chan."_

I'm so dead…

* * *

I didn't like sitting at the back. In fact, I hated it. Yes, I know, it was Mikan's car and she had every right to let Koko dude sit with her at the front, but I was her (fake) boyfriend, that was my seat (though my name was not on it).

"So how's life, Sami?" Koko dude spoke to Mikan.

"Sami?" I asked him. I was pretty sure that Mikan's name was Mikan Sakura.

"Sa from Sakura and Mi from Mikan. Sami is what I call her." Koko explained.

So they were at the stage of giving each other nicknames already. Well Mikan gave nicknames to many people. Tono for Tonouchi. Ruka-pyon for Ruka. Stripes for me. Aha! I had a nickname too! Beat that, Koko dude! Wait… Had she ever called me that?

"I just simply call him Koko, though." Mikan said and she drove, "If we follow Koko's principle, you'll be Hyna. Hy from Hyuga and Na from Natsume." Hyna? That sounded like Hina and Hina was not masculine.

"Or is it Hyuna?" Koko said. That was the name of a female k-pop singer (4minute, anybody?) and I was not female and I wasn't a k-pop singer, too. Well I could sing, but I chose not to (think about the fame, too much trouble).

"Maybe." Mikan said, "So where do you want me to drive you. Wanna visit my house?" She asked.

OUR! It was OUR house!

"My mansion." He said simply.

* * *

"The Yomes really know how to outdo others." Mikan said and as she drove through the gates of the third (out of 6) Tokyo mansion of the Yome family. One of the things that I feared came true… He was richer than me…

"Well, dad does like being flashy, not that I mind."

* * *

"I'll take a look around." Mikan said as she came out of the car.

"I'll start unpacking and then we can meet up at around 12 for lunch." Koko said as servants lined up to greet us at the entrance.

"What about me?" I asked but didn't get an answer because right at that moment, maids and butlers bowed down on both sides of the entrance and greeted us.

"Welcome to Yome Tokyo Mansion number 3, Master Kokoro, Miss Mikan and Mister Hyuga."

How come I was the only one called by my last name?

"See ya later, Koko." Mikan said as she walked to a butler, "I'd like a tour and for lunch…" Mikan said as she walked away with the butler.

"You can come with me." Koko dude said, "We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

"So what is it that…" I got interrupted as Koko turned to me and took a picture of me in his room. A photo came out of the camera right away.

"Wow, that's the silliest face in my collection." He said and opened a cabinet.

I walked towards the cabinet and found different pictures of guys. All of them had red crosses on them and most were somehow disfigured. One of them had a mustache drawn on it. One was torn but stuck together with tape. One was full of holes which made it hard to identify the person. I tried looking closer at the dude and realized that it was Ruka. Ruka? Koko dude stuck my picture right next to Ruka's picture and stepped away, holding darts. He threw the first one.

"So what was it that…" I started on my question again but this time got interrupted by Koko dude himself.

"You know, your eyebrows are so hard to hit, they're so short and small. I dare say that they are harder to hit than the zit on your forehead." He threw another dart and smiled towards me, "Ruka is your best buddy, isn't he?" Koko dude said.

"Yep." I answered, "Why there are holes on his picture and what about the other ones?"

"I heard that you were stupid from Yoichi, but you are quiet too dense, don't you think?" he said.

"What does that supposed to…" I said out of anger.

"I got rid of them." I got interrupted again, "Anyone who was interested in Mikan and thought they could have her all for themselves. Your friend Ruka was relatively challenging. Very stubborn and didn't know his place. Just like how you are right now." He said and threw another dart and it hit my right eye, "I can change that, though."

"I won't stay away from Mikan." I told him, learning from past experience (with Yoichi).

"Unlike every guy that is interested in Mikan," Koko dude said and sat down on his king sized bed, "I know what Mikan is going through."

"And what is that?" I asked him. Puberty? I'm going through that too!

"You have no idea how hard it is on Mikan to do what she does." Koko dude said, looking at me with ice cold eyes, "You know what people say about Mikan? Such a beautiful girl, such a shame that she is half commoner. Such a shame that she was born a female. Such a shame that Mr. Sakura can't produce another heir. It hurts Mikan and I understand her more than anyone. She strives to become a better person and since she can't get the support of the Sakuras, she might as well gain the support of all other future heirs. That's what the fake dating is for. By cooperating with other male heirs, she gains their trust, not to mention access to their families." Another thing that I feared happened. He knew her more than I did.

"I know what she is going through." I told him.

"No, you don't. You can imagine but all your life, everything has been perfect. You're a son of two very high class people. You're a male and the absolute heir to Hyuga corp. Grades, looks, status and background you have it all. How can someone like that know what Mikan is going through?"

"How can you?" I shot back at him. This was getting out of hand…

"I'm the son of a mistress. Third in the inheritance list with a low social status to top it off. Just like Mikan, I strive to gain the inheritance that everyone in the family wants to snatch away."

"With such a low status, you're bringing down Mikan, yet you still think that I should stay away from her?" I asked, mentally patting myself on the shoulder for thinking of something like this.

"Unlike you, who can only give her social comfort, I can give her the whole package. I'm known to be smart and experienced in business world. By entrusting Mikan to a guy like me, Mikan will have a strong adviser who will help her in the business world. Mikan will be more trusted than any other heir available. On the other hand, I'm also her best friend, the person who understands what she is going through and a person who she will be able to trust with anything."

"Mikan can trust me." I told him, a little unsure of my own words.

"Can she? You're unreliable, childish and insensitive. You're also dense and a playboy. Think of how many times she had to save your butt already. Do you really think she can trust you?" The more he said the less I felt confident about myself.

"**Why do you have to stick to her if you are just a burden?"** Koko dude said and threw the next dart. It hit my left eye.

"**You're just her fake boyfriend. All she ever feels for you is comradeship."** He said and the next dart hit my zit.

"**The only reason she gets fake boyfriends is because it benefits her. She doesn't need specifically you."** This time, the dart hit my left eyebrow.

"**What can a person that always had everything with ease understand about Sami?"** He said. The right eyebrow was hit, "Am I wrong?"

Everything he said so far was true. I had nothing else to say. Actually, I couldn't say anything.

* * *

The rest of the morning, I went looking for Mikan who was nowhere to be found.

She was really gone. Just like that. Poof and then no one, you know. I searched the whole garden. I searched rooms (there were plenty). Where could she be? Koko dude probably knew… He knew…

"I probably could figure it out" I'd think once in a while but I couldn't. Figuring out things probably took time; I just needed to wait for a good idea to come. Good things come to people who wait. But waiting didn't help me find her. The butler did though.

At lunch I was summoned to the dining room (as flashy as the rest of the mansion) and got to meet Mikan sitting next to Koko dude. I felt a pang of jealousy but I realized that Koko dude made a big mistake. By sitting opposite to Mikan, you can stare at her face throughout lunch while if you're right next to her, you'll have to look sideways. Hahaha! I won, Koko dude!

"Natsume, come sit." Mikan said and smiled happily, "Where were you all morning?"

"Where were you all morning?" I asked her, emphasizing the "you".

"I toured around the mansion which took some time and then I decided to help the chef with lunch." She said and the first dish was served. The first dish was roasted lobsters which totally cheered me up.

"I don't remember telling the chef to prepare lobsters." Koko dude said and dug in.

"I told the butler to buy some. I prepared them myself." Mikan said and waited for Koko dude and me to taste it.

"THIS IS REALLY DELICIOUS!" I exclaimed.

"Really?" Mikan said and smiled so bright, I think my eyes could go blind (in a good way).

"I thought you didn't like lobsters." Koko dude said.

"I ate them once when I was a kid and didn't like them. I wanted to try them again." Mikan said and tried her lobster, "It's not that bad."

"I learned French." Koko dude said and continued eating.

"Really?" Mikan said and said something that resembled "bla-bla-bla?" (probably in French).

Koko dude bla-bla-bla-ed back (probably in French too).

"Impressive." Mikan said, "Where did you learn?"

"After you flew to Japan, I came back to America, as you know. I hired a tutor and learned some French in case you want to go there again some time soon..." Koko told her and took a sip of water, "You don't have to, you know. I mean Ruka was…"

"I'm fine with Ruka now." Mikan interrupted him.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yep. He's actually in Japan with his girlfriend, Hotaru Imai." Mikan said and ate more of her lobster. Just as she wasn't looking, Koko dude's face turned a little angry and as she looked up, his face came back to its original form.

"Does he go to Gakuen Alice with you?" Koko dude asked.

"Yep, so do Natsume and Hotaru. When are you enrolling into Gakuen Alice?" Mikan asked him?

"A few days from now, probably. I need some time to go and enjoy my life first."

He was transferring? What was his scheme?

Mikan giggled and we stayed quiet for a while.

"You're Mikan's newest comrade, right?" Koko dude asked, even though it was pretty obvious…

"Yeah, we started this a few months ago." I told him. Trying to emphasize that I have been close to her for a while now…

"What's the reason?" He asked me.

I had a bad feeling about where this was going, but I tried to ignore the feeling.

"My grandmother wanted me to find a girlfriend to show off in front of Ruka who at that time was arriving to Japan from France." I told him.

"But doesn't that mean that you're lying to your friend? Mikan, did you really have to lie to Ruka?" He said like a self righteous person… he wasn't.

"Well, it's a job, it's a duty." She said in a professional voice which made me even more sad about what Koko said about this just being a deal, "I can't just say no because of personal reasons."

"What about your other girlfriends? The ones you dated before. I heard a lot about them." Koko dude said and I realized where he was going.

"Well, uhm, grandmother wasn't satisfied with them, so I broke up with them." I told him, trying to say as little as possible. He could use anything against me now.

"What didn't satisfy your grandmother?" He asked.

"Well… They were…" I tried finding a better word than "commoners", "not as fortunate as we are." I so deserved a pat on the shoulder.

"Interesting…" Koko dude smiled in a way that resembled a smirk and we ate in silence, "Now that your grandmother is less of a handful, how about you get back with one of them?"

"What?" I asked after choking a little.

"There's no reason for you to keep them waiting, man." Koko dude said like he was my friend (which he was not), "They probably miss you like crazy."

"That is true, huh?" Mikan said and nodded in agreement, though she looked a little unsure.

"I'm sure you have their numbers." Koko dude said and smiled widely (I knew what that meant).

"I'll think about it." I said and got back to my lobster.

Even the lobster didn't taste that good anymore. I didn't even care about the rest of the meal…

* * *

"Wait for me here, ok?" Koko dude said as he left us in the guest room, surrounded by maids. Mikan and Koko decided that they needed to go and explore the city together (even though this wasn't the first time they came to Tokyo).

"Don't take long." Mikan said, "Don't wear anything too flashy."

"Don't worry." He said and kissed Mikan on the cheek (while smirking in my direction) before going away.

"So…" I tried starting a conversation, "The lobsters were very good!"

"Thanks."

Silence…

More silence…

"You know," Mikan said and took out two pieces of paper, which resembled tickets, "we have these tickets to Tiger Island that we won in the competition, right? So I was think maybe you can…" I saw Mikan turn a little red. Did she have a fever? "come with m…"

"Sami!" Koko said and hugged Mikan, "Are those tickets to Tiger Island? Let's go there together? How about now? Let's just skip the whole Tokyo expedition and go to Tiger Island?" He said in one breath.

"Well I was thinking maybe…" Mikan said, but was cut off.

"Let's go!" Koko pulled on Mikan's arm and stormed out of the mansion.

Hell no I'm letting this dude run away with my (fake) girlfriend!

* * *

"Sorry, all tickets are sold out." The ticket lady said when we arrived to Tiger Island port. That was where people boarded on boats to go to the Island.

"Oh, ok." Mikan said a little disappointed.

"It's ok, Sami. Natsume doesn't like Tigers anyways, right?" he asked.

I could feel him smiling inside. He knew it, didn't he? He knew that he could use this against me. That evil Koko-dude!

"He's scared of them." Mikan said, looking like she just realized something.

"That's right, so Hyuga, we'll see you later, ok?" He said and led Mikan to the boats.

Something smelled fishy here (probably, the sea)…

"Excuse me," I came to the ticket booth again, "was there a person who bought a large amount of tickets today?"

"Sorry, that information is classified." The woman said.

"You really can't tell me?" I asked and gave her the playboy look that worked on every girl.

* * *

I knew it! Koko dude bought all the tickets. That evil I-know-Mikan-better-than-you dude! Did he really think that that would stop me from having fun? Big mistake. Actually, while he was away, I decided to research about him. I dialed Ruka.

"The number you just dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again." Where was that dude? I dialed Hotaru-san.

"Hello, Hotaru-san?" I asked.

"What do you want?" I heard Hotaru-san's voice. It was a little tired and annoyed.

"Do you know where Ruka might be?" I asked her, "I called him but he didn't answer his phone." I informed her.

"I don't know where he is. I tried calling him too. I should have just put a tracking device on him when I could. The last time I saw him he was heading to his private zoo. Find him and report back to me." She ordered.

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am." I said and hung up. It was time to find Ruka.

* * *

The moment I arrived at the Ruka Nogi Private Zoo, I realize how overly obsessed Ruka was with animals. This place was huge! As big as two ordinary zoos combined and almost as big as my mansion. The guards let me through when they heard the name Hyuga and even offered a tour guide which I refused.

It wasn't easy finding Ruka. Not in such a big place with so little people (I practically saw no one). I called out Ruka's name as I walked around the zoo aimlessly. I was about to give up when I spotted a figure near a tree.

"Excuse me, have you seen Ruka by any chance." I asked and walked closer to the figure only to find Ruka tied to the tree with his mouth covered.

"Ruka!" I yelled and freed him, "What happened?"

"I was playing with some bears when someone hit me and I lost consciousness. The next thing I know I'm already tied to this tree with no one to call for help." He said pretty calmly.

"How come you're so calm about this?" I asked him.

"Being Hotaru's boyfriend teaches you a lot of things such as how to defend yourself against her business rivals and stalkers. After a while, you get used to it and now it's just a normal walk in the park for me." I was a little too amazed to say anything back to him, "I think it was Kokoro Yome."

"What?" I asked him since I was only half listening to what he was saying.

"Kokoro Yome, your future nightmare. I think he did it." He said full of suspicions, "This isn't the first time he did this to me too. I know how he works and this incident has his fingerprints all over it."

"OoooKkkkkkkkkk" I said slowly, "I think you should call Hotaru-san first, though." I told him.

"Fine." He said and dialed Hotaru-san's number. After a while he hung up. "She isn't answering her phone." He told me. Just as he finished his sentence, his phone rang. Ruka picked up, "Hello." After a minute or two of listening he hung up the phone. His head bent low, he stood silently.

"Ruka, what's wrong?" I asked him and saw him shaking, "Ruka?" I asked.

"Hahahahahaha…" Ruka was laughing hysterically.

"Dude, what happened?" I was half guessing that he has gone mad.

"Kokoro called," Ruka said and laughed a little more before adding, "he said he is keeping Hotaru hostage." Ruka started laughing again.

"And that's supposed to be funny because…" I asked him.

"I can't believe that smart dude could do something so stupid." Ruka laughed some more, "It's impossible to kidnap Hotaru." He laughed for a little longer, "That's enough." He said and stopped laughing. He took out a walky-talky out of nowhere, "Cash, do you copy?"

"Blondie, I'm in a dark warehouse and the door is locked." I heard Hotaru-san's voice from the walky-talky, "Good thing I have my mini bazooka with me." My mouth dropped to the floor. Was this even legal?

"I'll see you later, then." Ruka said.

"Wait," Hotaru-san said, "My place or your place?" Was she thinking what I was thinking?

"Mine, see you in 20 minutes. Blondie out." Ruka said and put away the walky-talky.

"Walky-talkies? Really?" I asked him.

"We keep them for emergencies but they're sometimes useless since sometimes we're tied up and can't really use it." Ruka explained, "Wanna visit my place?" He asked me, "There are a few things that I think you'd like to know about what's going to happen to you from now on."

* * *

"When you said your place I thought it was your place with only the two of us yet you brought this idiot, too." Hotaru-san complained when we arrived.

"Natsume is going through a few problems. I need to help him out. I think you can be of some assistance, too." Ruka said. I was a little scared when I heard Ruka tell Hotaru-san to "be of some assistance" because it was well understood that Hotaru was never "of some assistance", she was the whole assisting crew.

"No." Hotaru-san refused straightforwardly.

"Wanna visit the baby panda at my zoo?" Ruka asked and smiled a sweet (too sweet actually) smile.

"Only this time." Hotaru-san said and flopped down on a sofa. Ruka and I followed her.

"Kokoro Yome is an interesting sort of person." Ruka started.

"I kinda figured that out already." I told him. The fact that he could be so close to Mikan was interesting enough. Not to mention his darts throwing ability.

"I don't think you can deal with him the way you dealt with Yoichi." He told me. When did I tell him about Yoichi?

"Why not?" I asked. Busting him in front of Mikan seemed to be pretty reasonable. I just had to find the right time to bust him.

"Kokoro is very important to Mikan. He is, in a way, her soul mate." Ruka explained. I couldn't help but frown.

"I thought you were on my side." I told him. So much for best buddies.

"That's not what I meant. What I mean is that he is her other half." Ruka tried to defend himself.

"That's even worse."

"Arg. I give up. I can't seem to find the right words for this. Hotaru?" Ruka called for Hotaru-san.

"What he's trying to say is that Kokoro Yome is like her male self. The type of person who understands her perfectly. The type of person who finishes her sentences and knows what she's thinking without even asking her." Hotaru explained.

"It's not just that. Kokoro and Mikan have been together for so long that if you try to separate them, they'd just both turn against you." Ruka said in a warning voice.

"Did you say that out of experience?" I asked him. Ruka did say that Koko dude was the reason why he broke up with Mikan.

"No. Just out of theory. When he was bullying me, I never told Mikan. I knew it would hurt her too much to ever choose between her boyfriend and her best friend." Ruka looked like he was looking back at the past. His eyes deep in thought, he looked a little sad.

"What did he do to you?" I asked him.

"Oh, you know, the usual. He hired gangsters to beat me up. But he was smart. Only injured me where my uniform would cover me. Sometimes, when he'd go overboard, he'd keep me in his mansion for a week or two until I'm recovered and then let me lie to Mikan that I was away for business. A lot of blackmail and prank phone calls. He's a classic, isn't he? He's pretty cruel, I'd say. I went through a lot because of him. Until I couldn't take it anymore and broke up with Mikan. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

"Thanks for having my back, man." I told him and smiled in brotherly affection.

"Hotaru, would you mind researching about him? See what connections he has. Any blackmailing material that he can get a hold of easily." Ruka addressed to Hotaru-san.

"I should have just gotten rid of him for bullying you when we started dating. Now he's back to annoy our lives." Hotaru-san once again complained.

"It's ok." Ruka said, "I'll make it up to you tonight." He kissed Hotaru on her cheek like a kid.

Hotaru-san paused a little.

"Does that mean a check or crabs?" Hotaru-san asked, completely missing Ruka's point.

* * *

As I drove back home, I spotted Koko dude coming out of a car and helping Mikan out. She looked happy and was laughing about something. Koko dude first resisted, but started laughing as well. The two looked so happy and seemed to be laughing forever. I stopped my car in the shadows and observed the two. They really were best friends… And it did me no good to acknowledge that.

Mikan was happy with Koko dude. Would she be happy with me? She would be… right?

As Koko dude's car drove away, Mikan waved her hand happily until she spotted my car.

"How was your day, Natsume?" Mikan asked me and smiled brightly. She looked so happy.

Ruka was right, I shouldn't bust Koko. It would tear Mikan apart.

"It was ok." I told her and smiled back. "What's for dinner?"

"Oh, Koko invited me to dine with him tonight." Mikan told me, "Would you like to come along?"

"Nah, I was actually thinking of going to eat with Ruka and Hotaru-san." I told her.

* * *

"And that's why I'm here." I finished explaining to Ruka and Hotaru-san.

"Why would you ever do such a thing?" Ruka said and rubbed his temple.

"I didn't want Mikan to think that I was some loner, who she abandoned." I reasoned.

"But now they're going to have dinner… alone. And you know what happens on those dinners..." Ruka told me.

"Get out of the house." Hotaru-san said simply and pointed to the door, "There're not enough crabs."

"Oh, come on, Hotaru. Just let him stay." Ruka tried to convince Hotaru-san.

"It's ok. I'll go visit Tsubasa." I told him and walked out the door. I didn't want to bother my best buddy and threaten his relationship with Hotaru-san.

* * *

After I left the Nogi mansion, I decided to call Tsubasa. I stopped the car, got out of it and dialed him. As I waited for someone to answer, I walked around to get some fresh air.

"Hello. Who is it?" I heard Harada-san's voice.

Oopsie daisie.

I hung up. Tsubasa was probably busy.

"Ah." I sighed. Did everyone in the world just abandon me? Just then it started to rain, "Great," I told myself (since I was so lonely), "things can't get any worse than that." I ran to my car and started the engine. Out of gas, "Obviously they can." I decided to call a butler or something to pick me up.

"Grrrrrrrr." My stomach grumbled.

The call could wait. Good thing I parked right next to a bakery.

* * *

"Thank you for the purchase." The cashier said, blushing as I went out of the bakery. I was about to open the door of my car when

"Natsume-kun?" I heard a familiar feminine voice. I turned to my right.

"Luna?"

* * *

Lune Koizumi was not rich. In fact she was what my grandmother considered commoner. She was quiet pretty and that made up for all the other flaws that she had. Like how she sometimes smiled freakishly or how she loved to spend hours making teddy bears.

"So how is life since you broke up with me, Natsume-kun?" Luna asked as we sat in a nearby cafe.

"Fine." I said, "I started dating a rich girl." I added.

"Mikan Sakura, right?" Luna asked.

"How did you know?" Was she a stalker?

"It's all over the news." Luna explained, "But you told me it's only a fake relationship." That kinda helped me snap back to the harsh reality. That's probably what Mikan thought. This was just a fake relationship to her.

"Well yeah. I guess it is." I said, "How are you?" I asked. The last time I talked to her was when I told her that we needed to break up.

"It hurt me at first when you broke up with me but now I finally got to meet you again." She told me, "Say, can I borrow your phone? I need to call my parents and I kinda forgot mine at home…"

"Sure." I said and gave her my phone.

"Thanks." She said and took it. Right then, the phone started to ring.

Another flaw that Luna possesses is she always does things without thinking, and this time, she decided to pick up my phone, "Hello?" She paused a little, "He's here." She said and handed me the phone.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Natsume," I heard Mikan's voice. Mikan!

"Mikan, this isn't what it sounds like." I told her. What if she misunderstood that I was seeing another girl behind her back? But then again, that wouldn't mean anything to her since this is a fake relationship.

"I… I just called to say that I won't be back till around 11. That's… That's all… Bye, Natsume." She said and hung up.

"Was that your fake girlfriend?" She asked me, "You should go if it's important…"

"Nah," I said, "I'll just talk to her later." Little did I know that it would be the last meaningful conversation between us in a long long time.

* * *

It wasn't easy, surviving these past few weeks was a torture itself. Just as Ruka told me, gangsters were coming from everywhere and blackmail just never stopped. Good think I had Ruka for the former and Hotaru-san for the latter. They were quite a combo, I had to admit. Ruka may have looked like a girly guy but he had a lot of muscles up his sleeves and no one ever questioned that Hotaru-san was the Queen of Blackmail and she didn't like the King of Torture intruding on her territory. The worst part of this whole thing was that Mikan could never be approached anymore. Koko dude enrolled into Gakuen Alice a few days after his arrival and he was just stuck to Mikan and she didn't seem to mind. He was with her from morning till afternoon and then stayed with her from before dinner till she went to sleep. Even the period in the afternoon before he came, Koko dude kept Mikan occupied with a long chit chat phone call. He wasn't just evil, he was selfish! He was taking Mikan all to himself!

Aside from casual greetings and other small talk, Mikan and I rarely talked to each other anymore. Mikan preferred to watch Phineas and Ferb with Koko dude and seemed to sleep over at his house quiet often.

Just when I thought that my life couldn't get worse, one Monday morning, as I was walking down the hallways of Gakuen Alice, something very dreadful happened.

"Natsume-kun!" I heard a voice from behind me and turned around.

"Luna?"


	20. Chapter 20

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

It's chapter 20! Yay! I finally reached chapter 20. You know, I have never thought that I could come this far, thought I'd get bored of this and drop it, but here I am. Teehee! Thank you everyone for supporting me!

Speaking of support, my editor/sister is going overseas soon. That means that her editing me will be basically impossible (it's just no good working apart and she will be too busy with studying). I'll try to finish this fanfic before she goes and then I'll write on my own (so don't be surprised if you find grammar mistakes, misspelling and other errors).

I knew of disclaimers since I started to read fanfictions but I never thought that they were neccesary. Are they? Well… just to be sure, here comes my disclaimer:

I don't own Gakuen Alice, it's characters and other things. Nor do I own Phineas and Ferb (the awesomest show ever!).

Was that ok? Hope so. If you guys want me to add anything to the disclaimer, just say so.

Enjoy chapter 20!

* * *

**Previous:**

Just when I thought that my life couldn't get worse, one Monday morning, as I was walking down the hallways of Gakuen Alice, something very dreadful happened.

"Natsume-kun!" I heard a voice from behind me and turned around.

"Luna?"

* * *

Luna wasn't supposed to be here! That's the point of dating less fortunate girls. You don't see them at school and don't have to worry about them clinging to you when you're trying to sleep. They don't drive away the fan girls, who sometimes are annoying but can work as mental support. So when Narumi sensei introduced Luna as a transfer student with a scholarship, I was very surprised. First of all, because I never thought that Luna was the type of girl that went for scholarships (even though she was pretty smart). Second of all, because Gakuen Alice never had a scholarship before. Third of all, because I never heard of a scholarship that helped a student to get into a school in the middle of the year…

"Hey, Natsume-kun!" Luna said and waved her hand from the front of the class.

"You know Natsume?" Narumi sensei asked with a mischievous smile on his face, "Natsume, you're Luna-chan's partner for now, ok? Help her out for the first couple of weeks."

People started murmuring and gossiping. Narumi sensei didn't seem to mind. I glanced towards Koko dude (who decided that Mikan needed to sit with him). He was smiling, but his eyes were smirking triumphantly, "Now that everything's settled," Narumi sensei said, "I'm off!"

The murmuring didn't stop. Nor did Koko dude's triumphant look.

* * *

Lunch time came. Mikan, Koko dude, Ruka, Hotaru-san and I walked towards the cafeteria. I sat in the table with 6 chairs arranged around the round table, Ruka sat next to me and Hotaru-san sat on the other side of Ruka. Koko dude sat next to Hotaru-san and gestured Mikan to sit right next to him. Mikan sat down and we started ordering our lunch. I wasn't really paying attention to the food as I glanced towards Mikan. She was a chair away from me. I was about to move to the chair next to her when Koko dude stood up and started waving his hand towards the cafeteria entrance.

"Luna-chan!" He yelled and gestured her to come sit with us. Luna ran towards us and sat next to me, separating me and Mikan.

"Hey, guys!" She beamed, "Thanks for letting me sit here. I don't know anyone in this school except for you, Natsume." She looked at me and batted her lashes effortlessly. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Luna," I said, "this is my girlfriend, Mikan Sakura." I gestured towards Mikan.

"Nice to meet you." Mikan said and extended her arm.

"Nice to meet you, too." Luna said and started shacking Mikan's hand, "I'm actually shaking hands with THE Mikan Sakura. I can't believe this! I'm never washing my hand again." Everyone (excluding me and Luna) looking disgusted (Mikan and Hotaru) and amused (Ruka and Koko dude).

"I advise you to wash your hands." Mikan said and smiled unsurely, "I'll shake your hand every day, so keep washing your hands."

"Oh, ok." Luna said, "You know, you said the same thing that Natsume said when we started dating." Oh, she did not just say that!

"Started dating?" Mikan asked. I didn't like where this was going.

"Yes, Natsume and I dated a few months ago, didn't we, Natsume?" she looked at me.

"Yeah, we did." I nodded slowly, "But we broke up, didn't we, Luna?" I looked at her.

"Yep." She popped the "p", "Speaking of dating, do you still have the teddy bear I gave you?" She asked me.

"Yeah… about that…" I said, "I lost it." I lied. I didn't want Mikan to think that I kept her things.

"Oh, it's ok!" Luna said, "I'll make a new one for you!"

"Make?" Mikan asked, "You make teddy bears?" The way Mikan looked was a little confusing… It wasn't excitement… It wasn't anger… It was more like she's being intimidated. But by what? A teddy bear making girl?

"Yep." Luna popped the "p" again, "It's my hobby though my teddy bears aren't that pretty."

"That's not true!" I protested, "Your teddy bears are very awesome." I told her. They really were and I couldn't just let a talented girl deny her gift.

"Really?" Luna asked and turned red, "You really think so?"

Oh no… Did I just do something wrong…

"You better order your food, Luna. Lunch is almost over." I told her, dodging her eyes.

"There's still plenty of time, man." Ruka said but called the waiter to our table anyways.

* * *

"How about a love story, Hyuna?" Koko dude said after Luna ordered.

"Hyuna?" Ruka asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Hyuna is a combination of Hyuga Natsume, now back to the love story…" Koko dude said and looked at me expectantly.

"Oh, it was so romantic, wasn't it, Natsume-kun?" Luna said and held my hand.

"It kinda was, huh?" I remembered the old days. It wasn't like I was missing those times, but they were good memories. I grew with these memories. I learned so many things by being with Luna and girls like her.

"I was the one who asked him out." Luna said.

Well of course! I never confessed to anybody… yet...

"Did he reject you at first?" Koko dude asked.

"Nope." Luna popped the "p", "He just told me to meet him in the Hyuga Park at 6."

"Did he come late?" Ruka asked, getting interested in the story.

"He actually came early. Then he drove me to the mall. We spent our first date picking clothes for me and changing my hair. The reason I look the way I do now is all thanks to Natsume." Luna said and looked at me.

"Were you really that ashamed of the way Luna looked before?" Hotaru-san asked.

"No." I defended myself, "Luna had a lot of potential and I wanted her to see what she could be capable of." Luna had low self-esteem and hid her face behind her hair when I first met her. Looking at her now, I felt proud. Like a father looking at their growing child or a teacher seeing his student improving. I felt happy and couldn't help, but smile as she ran her fingers through her perfect hair.

"Natsume may look like a cold person, but he cares about people he dates no matter if he likes them or not." Luna said and turned towards Mikan, "You probably know what I'm talking about, Sakura-san…"

"Of course." Mikan said and smiled the most real looking fake smile, "He is nice to everyone..."

* * *

That afternoon, I decided to visit somewhere before going home (which is why Mikan went home in Koko dude's car). I decided to visit a jewelry store owned by the Yamanouchi family (after the incident with the hotel, they decided to change their business and the business boomed). I looked at different rings scanning each one carefully until I found what I was looking for.

"Can I look at that one, please?" I said and pointed at a platinum ring. The sales woman took it out and handed it to me. I looked at it. The ring had 4 big diamonds arranged like a paw... tiger's paw, actually. Someday, I'll kneel down in front of Mikan and then she'll say 'Yes' as I put this ring on her finger… This was my goal… And I wasn't just going to give up on this goal because of some rich best friend of hers, "I'll take this." I said and gave the ring back to the saleswoman. I won't give up…

* * *

I was exhausted. It was evening after dinner and I was preparing to do my homework. I turned on my laptop and checked my mail. There was a lot of spam and a whole lot of email from Koko dude (probably black mail). I dialed Hotaru-san.

"Hello." I said.

"Another black mail?"

I've been contacting her so many times these past few days that Hotaru-san got used to hearing from me around this time. "Actually a few. I got an embarrassing photo… Go die…" I started reading the titles of the emails, "Something fun… Wait… Something fun?" I clicked on the email. It read:

_Hey Hyuga, _

_Got something fun for you to see._

There was an attachment and I clicked on it. It was a poster. I read over it.

"Hotaru-san… I think we have a problem."

* * *

"So Kokoro Yome just started an open season against Luna Koizumi?" Ruka asked the moment I stepped into his place.

"It's worse." I told him, "He spammed it to everyone in the school. Luna won't survive a day with every person against her." I told him, "What's even worse is that he's using me as the prize. He said that cameras have been installed around the school, the person who bullies her best will get a date with me. I haven't even agreed to that!" This was bad… Really bad…

"Can't we just tell the principal?" Ruka asked, "It doesn't usually work but can't we at least try?"

"You think Koko dude hasn't paid a sum to the school to keep their hands tied?" I asked him back, "Besides, Luna is a commoner. The principal won't care about her unless she has an influential family background."

"So what do we do?" Ruka asked and looked at Hotaru-san.

"I say we do nothing." Hotaru-san said, "We have enough on our hands already. It's already hard just protecting you."

"Can't we hire bodyguards or something?" Ruka asked.

"The reason why you protect me and not bodyguards is because we don't want grandmother to find out about this and now you ask if we can hire bodyguards?" I asked Ruka. He was seriously dumb sometimes…

"So what do we do?" Hotaru-san asked us. We couldn't come to a decision.

"We protect her" I told them, "and ourselves and hope to stay alive."

* * *

"Luna, watch out!" I yelled and pushed Luna aside as a pot dropped from high up, "Are you alright?" I asked her as I helped her up by extending my arm to her.

"Thanks, Natsume-kun." She said and even when she stood up, she didn't let go of my hand.

"OoooKkkkkk" I said and forcefully pulled my hand away. That girl had such a strong grip.

"You really are a knight in shining armors." She said, her eyes sparkling.

"Actually, I'm more of a rich dude in a uniform." I told her and started walking backwards away from her.

"I knew you still loved me!" she said and hugged me. Wait, what? "When we met on that rainy day, I knew it was destiny that brought us together." She continued as I spotted Ruka, Hotaru-san, Koko dude and Mikan walking near us. I really didn't want Mikan to see this. I really didn't. I tried to pull away, "And then I got a scholarship. Can you imagine? I was offered to go to the same school as you. Isn't that destiny telling us to reconcile? I'm so lucky to get that Yo scholarship."

"Yo scholarship?" I asked her. Something was fishy here. I pulled her away from the approaching friends and led her into the forest, "Yo scholarship?" I asked her again.

"Yes. I got an email saying that I could sign up online for a 100% scholarship to Gakuen Alice sponsored by the Yo Electronics. I signed up for it and the next day, they said that I got the scholarship. And it wasn't a prank. The day after that, uniform came along with a few letters, handbooks and text books and even lunch fee. Isn't it destiny, Natsume-kun? I think my fairy godmother finally heard me." She told me. I put my index finger in front of her mouth.

"Listen, Luna." I needed to explain this to her before it gets too complicated, "I don't like you anymore. Not in the way you like me, anyways. I want us to be friends. You are a precious person to me. I learned how to care for people, how to nurture people through caring for you. But right now, I care for someone else more than anyone." I told her truthfully.

"I don't understand… You like someone else, now?" She asked me. She looked a little sad. I didn't answer but I knew that the silence was an answer itself, "Who is it?"

"My fake girlfriend." I told her, "I like her, I love her and right now, I'm afraid that she is going to slip through my fingers."

"I understand." She said and turned her back to me, "I get it." I could hear her sniffing.

"I'm sorry." I said, "I didn't know that I was misleading you."

"You shouldn't be sorry. You are such a nice person that you can't help but make people misunderstand." She told me and turned around. She wiped the last of her tears.

"Yeah, I guess…" I said and realized that there was something much more important to solve, "You know that you're being bullied, right?" I asked her even though it was pretty obvious.

"Bullied? Oh, you mean the pots that keep on dropping on me and the restroom door that is always locked and there's always an accidental flood inside the girl's restroom and I'm always in that restroom?" She asked me.

"Yep." I told her.

"Those girls are so classic!" She told me, "Who do they think I am? Some rich weakling? I may be commoner but back in commoner schools things are so much worse. Especially after I turned pretty and stole boyfriends. They really have no idea who they're messing with." She told me and I remembered that Luna may be nice when people treat her well, but she was a demon when you messed with her.

"I know that you want to beat them up, but if you do, your family will never hear the end of this. The girls will definitely tell their parents, who are very influential, and those influential parents will ruin your life. What I advise you to do is just skip school for now. When this whole thing is over, you'll be back to school." I told her.

She looked unsure. "What about my homework and notes? I might be expelled." She told me.

"It's ok." I assured her, "I'll write down notes for you and bring your homework to school. I'll make sure to explain the situation to the teachers and we'll end this thing before you say Natsume-kun."

"Really?" She asked me, "Are you really going to do all those things for me?" Her eyes were shining again.

"I'm nice to everybody, remember." I told her.

"And that is your problem!" She told me and pointed her finger at me.

"Why is that?" I asked her. Being nice was nothing wrong.

"If you're nice to everybody, how can your fake girlfriend feel special when you're being nice to her?" she told me.

"I guess, you're right…" I said and started thinking.

"From now on, I'm your love coach. Since you helped me before, I'm going to help you in return. Deal?" She asked me and took out her hand.

"Deal." I said and shook her hand, "And by the way..." I said, "I kept your teddy bear."

"I know." She said, smiling.

"How did you..." My phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered the phone.

"Natsume…" I heard Hotaru-san, "Ruka… he…"

* * *

"Where is he?" I asked as I walked into the infirmary of Gakuen Alice. Since the school was so big (and prestigious), the infirmary was as big as a regular hospital.

"Gang members decided to take him down first and then attack you later." Hotaru-san said as she led me to Ruka, "He couldn't fight all of them." She told me and I saw Ruka lying on the bed, "He refused to use the mini bazooka against them." She told me and left us alone.

"Hey, man." I told him and sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"Hey." He told me.

"You're too nice." I told him.

"I know." He said. There was a long silence and I finally decided to ask Ruka what I've been wondering for a while.

"Hey." I called out.

"What?" He asked me.

"Are you angry at Koko dude… you know… for ruining your relationship with Mikan?" I've said it…

"I don't know…" Ruka said and looked at me, "Sometimes, when I get in a fight with Hotaru, I think about what could've happened if I didn't break up with Mikan…" He told me, "But it takes me a minute or two to realize that I'd rather be in a fight with Hotaru than to never meet her." He got silent for a while, "Kokoro broke me and Mikan up, but he isn't the only person to blame. I didn't love Mikan enough. If I loved her more, I could've taken any bullying just to be with her, but I didn't so I let go of her. I met Hotaru and now, I'm the happiest guy alive. So in a way, I'm thankful to Kokoro. Besides," He smiled, "if I didn't break up with her, what would be the odds of you meeting her and starting to date her?"

"I guess…" I said and though I knew that that was a bad thing, a small dark part of me was thankful that Koko dude interfered in Mikan's and Ruka's relationship…

* * *

"Make sure that the candles are arranged in the right order." Luna said on her phone. I was currently at home, preparing dinner for Mikan. That's what Luna told me to do. She said it made girls feel special. This time around, I tasted my food before plating it, just in case (and it was good!).

Mikan came down, looking very pretty in her black strapless mini dress.

"Mikan, dinner's ready." I told her.

"Oh…" She looked at the table, "I was going to have dinner with Koko…" She probably saw my disappointed face, "I'll cancel." She told me and took out her phone. She came out of the dining room. A few minutes later, she came back looking depressed.

"He's angry at me." She told me, "What should I do?" she said and sat down. She started eating but looked upset.

"He's isn't that great a guy anyway." I told her, trying to cheer her up, "Might as well end your friendship with him." I blurted out.

"What does that supposed to mean?" She asked me and frowned, "Koko is a very important friend of mine."

"Didn't you realize that Koko has been bullying your boyfriends? Didn't you realize that all this time, he's been manipulating you? Didn't you realize that he ruined your relationship with your boyfriends, he ruined your chance of happiness. Didn't you realize…" I burst out.

"I KNOW!" She yelled, "I know he bullies them. I know he hurts them… I'D RATHER TURN A BLIND EYE ON ALL OF THOSE BOYS THAN RISK MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM! BOYFRIENDS ALWAYS LEAVE! BUT KOKO WILL ALWAYS STAY BY MY SIDE! I NEED HIM! I NEED HIM!"

…

So that's how it was…

"Even Ruka?" I asked her.

"RUKA WAS NEVER BULLIED BY…" She shouted, but stopped as her eyes widened in realization. She covered her mouth and silent tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"_Even me?"_ I thought and walked away.

"Natsume!" I heard her shout behind me, but I ignored it, "Natsume!"

I've had enough…


	21. Chapter 21

Fake Romance

By: money127

* * *

A lot of stuff happened last time, huh? It was a little sad and emotional and stuff. So here's the finale. Yep, you heard me right. The finale. The last chapter. The end… Well not really. After this story ends, I'm going to write the sequel. You'll find the summary at the bottom of this chapter.

I read the first chapter not too long ago and realized that I was so bad… Like really bad! But I won't change it. It's a proof that I changed and grew and I just want to keep it there for sentimental reasons.

Also, I know that I said that this fanfiction will be 30 chapter long but I guess it turned out shorter than expected.

Anyways, enjoy the finale (chapter 21)!

* * *

**Previous:**

"Didn't you realize that Koko has been bullying your boyfriends? Didn't you realize that all this time, he's been manipulating you? Didn't you realize that he ruined your relationship with your boyfriends, he ruined your chance of happiness. Didn't you realize…" I burst out.

"I KNOW!" She yelled, "I know he bullies them. I know he hurts them… I'D RATHER TURN A BLIND EYE ON ALL OF THOSE BOYS THAN RISK MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM! BOYFRIENDS ALWAYS LEAVE! BUT KOKO WILL ALWAYS STAY BY MY SIDE! I NEED HIM! I NEED HIM!"

…

So that's how it was…

"Even Ruka?" I asked her.

"RUKA WAS NEVER BULLIED BY…" She shouted, but stopped as her eyes widened in realization. She covered her mouth and silent tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"_Even me?"_ I thought and walked away.

"Natsume!" I heard her shout behind me, but I ignored it, "Natsume!"

I've had enough…

* * *

Mikan loved Ruka. She said so herself and she wasn't the type that joked about love. If he wasn't worth it, how could I? All I was for her was a costumer, a comrade, a fake boyfriend. One of twenty other guys…

I looked up Koko dude's phone number and dialed. Yes guys, I decided to call him.

"Hello, Kokoro Yome speaking." I heard from my phone.

"This is Natsume Hyuga." I introduced myself.

"I'm sorry, who?" He asked me in a mocking way (or it sounded that way at least).

"Hyuna." I said embarrassingly.

"Hey! Did you give up on her yet?" He asked me straightforwardly.

"Can we meet up?" I asked him.

* * *

"You know, you could have just called me to inform me that you give up. It's not like you're breaking up with me…" Koko emphasized the word "me" as he sipped his coffee at a nearby coffee shop.

"About that… I…" I started but was interrupted by a phone call. Koko dude picked up his phone.

"Hey Sami!" He beamed. I opened my eyes wide in surprise. Why didn't I think about it sooner? If Mikan was upset, of course she'll call Koko dude, "I'll be there." He said and hung up, "I knew you'd give up eventually." He told me. He wasn't smiling though.

"Where's that triumphant smirk of yours?" I asked him. This was weird. He actually looked upset.

"She's crying. You think I still have the mood to smirk in this situation?" He asked me. The word "crying" made me flinch and wondered if coming back and comforting her was an option. But then I snapped back to reality – it wasn't…

"Then why did you do all this?" I asked him. If he loved her as much as I did, then making her cry would not be an option but then again, I was the one who got in a fight with her.

"She'll get over you eventually, don't worry." He said coldly, sipped the last of his coffee and called for a check.

"Here." I said and handed him the pretty black box with the ring inside it, "I don't want to waste the ring." I stood up and walked away.

It was all over… My love… My goal… My romance… Fake romance, actually…

"Ruka, you alone?" I asked him on the phone when I was finally outside.

"Yeah, why?" He asked me in a sleepy voice. I forgot he was still injured.

"I'll drive by, ok?"

* * *

By the time I came back from Ruka's mansion (where I screamed my heart out in sorrow), it was late. Very late, actually. It was around 3 in the morning, I looked at my watch… Ok, make it 4.

I looked into the kitchen. The table was the way I left it. She didn't even eat a bite. I sat down alone on the uncomfortable chair that I was just enjoying the other day. The candles were shining mournfully and my shadow on the floor seemed even darker than black. The white cloth on the table turned grey and my hands shivered from the contact with the silverware. I picked up the fork and tried some of my cooking. The food sucked…

I came up after washing the dishes and found the whole floor dark. I turned on the hallway lights and opened Mikan's room. I closed my eyes in anticipation of clothes piling up on me, but nothing. I opened my eyes in surprise. I closed the door and opened it again. Still nothing. I came inside to find the room empty. There was only furniture. No sign of her ever being there. She left…

I looked around, hoping that there was some sort of mistake, that Mikan was somewhere hiding in the house and was waiting to surprise me or play a prank on me but the house was completely quiet. As I scanned the room, I found a piece of paper on the table. I took it.

_Hey Natsume,_

_Since I'm leaving before you find the girl you want to confess to, the deal is canceled. You can keep the tutu if you want to. Send it back to me if you don't. I'm currently staying with Koko, not my parents, so don't worry. I'm sorry it turned out this way._

_Your comrade, _

_Mikan Sakura _

_(Polka Dotted Tiger)_

I don't know how many times I read that note. I just read it over and over until I memorized the whole thing. That night, I held the note tightly in my hand as I fell asleep… It felt like that note was the only thing keeping me in peace.

* * *

I missed her… I admitted the next day when I woke up. I really did. My bed was cold, so was the whole house (well, it was winter). I came down in my uniform to find the kitchen empty.

"What did you expect?" I asked myself (because I was too lonely), "She's gone now…" I said and started making my own traditional breakfast, instant noodles.

* * *

It turned out that my car was also lonely. The garage was too big for one car. The garage in my mansion was way bigger, but there were way more cars in it, too. My poor (newly acquired) customized black Imai Car was missing his silver BMW… The garage was too big for him alone. He suddenly felt cold and alone… I started the engine and drove to Gakuen Alice with a faded hope of meeting Mikan.

* * *

A few days later I started the engine of the car and drove to the Hyuga mansion. It was almost time for Christmas, which meant winter break, and that all Hyugas gathered in the Main Mansion to celebrate (even though we were not Christians). By my side sat a bag with some cloth. I was staying in the mansion from now on. It was too quiet at home. Honestly, I wanted something (or rather someone) more on the seat next to me. You see, the bag didn't talk. It didn't smile the angelic way. It didn't shout. It wasn't vulnerable. It didn't make me feel warm inside. The bag wasn't Mikan…

"Hello, Grandmother." I said as I came into the mansion. I was a little early since the only family members present were my grandmother and Aoi.

"Natsume." Grandmother said and hugged me before kissing my cheek, "You've grown so much since I last saw you, Natsume…" She said and pulled away a little to get a better look of me, "You remind me of your grandfather. Oh he was such a man… One of a kind… I fell in love with him at first sight. He was so charming and so was I…" She started narrating before finally realizing that someone was missing, "Where's Mikan?" She looked behind me.

"Uhm… We…" I tried to find a nice way to explain this situation, "had a few disagreements…" I said.

"And she isn't coming because of those few disagreements?" Grandmother raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure there were only a few disagreements?" Actually, I wasn't sure if there was a disagreement… Was it a disagreement? Were we fighting over something? Somehow, I wished we were actually disagreeing. That way, I'd at least know where we went wrong. Currently, I didn't know what really happened. It wasn't something that I could compromise with her. There was nothing to compromise… How could I end a fight without knowing the reason for the fight in the first place…

"I'm not really sure…" I said honestly. My eyes started to feel a little wet and warm. It's been a while since I cried and I didn't want to cry in front of grandmother. She hugged me.

"Let's not talk about her. It's Christmas time, so forget about all your sadness and enjoy!" She told me and went away, shouting at some butlers for leaving the Christmas tree 10 centimeters too much to the left.

"_Some things just never change."_ I thought, inhaling the familiar scent of a family, a home that I left for so long, "I'm home." I said to no one in particular. Was it really home?

* * *

That evening, I was sitting in my room watching Phineas and Ferb. I wasn't as excited as I was before. I could still remember the times when I was still a playboy, still oblivious to love. I was so crazy about this show. I was so happy. Why did the show turn colorless without her now? Why couldn't I just go back to the time when my happiness depended on no one? Forgetting her was the only way yet every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. Was this some kind of sickness? Finally giving up on watching Phineas and Ferb, I turned off the TV and tried to fall asleep. Christmas was only a few days away, I needed as much energy as I could get…

* * *

I spent 3 hours trying to fall asleep on my king sized bed. It's not like I wasn't used to it. I slept in it for 16 years (I slept in a curb until I was 1). I searched through my bag, looking for the note Mikan left me. I needed it to fall asleep.

"Damn it!" I said, "Where is that note?" I asked no one in particular.

I had no other choice. I needed to go back to that house to look for the note.

* * *

Back at the house, the note was still nowhere to be found. I was starting to get frustrated. It was 1 in the morning and I still couldn't get some sleep.

I needed something…

Something to put me in peace…

Mikan's note did…

Maybe something that Mikan gave me…

…

That's it!

…

I ran up to the third floor and brought down that one thing that I was so afraid to look at – the tiger-bunny picture. It was as huge as ever, but I wasn't scared anymore… It gave me a sense of calmness that I was missing. I hanged it on the wall along with some pictures that Mikan and I took in the amusement park. Finally, at 3 am in the morning, I fell asleep…

* * *

Christmas went by… Uneventful, painful and melancholic… I missed Mikan. I gave up on watching Phineas and Ferb a few days ago, it just wasn't the same. I was doing my usual routine of driving around the city aimlessly. Driving distracted me from Mikan; I had to pay attention to the road.

As I was driving one day, I saw Koko dude's car. I could recognize it anywhere. It was so flashy and shiny, not to mention yellow. Without thinking, I followed the car… to the airport.

After parking my car, I ran after Koko dude who was on his way to the waiting room.

"Hey Koko!" I yelled. That got his attention as he turned around to face me.

"Hey Hyuna." He said and walked towards me. Will he ever stop with this ridiculous nickname?

"Where are you going?" I asked him. _"Where is Mikan?"_ I wanted to ask, but didn't.

"Back to the US." He told me, "My vacation here is over."

"What about Mikan?" I asked him.

"_Is she going with you? If not, why are you leaving her here?"_ Thousands of questions ran through my mind. What was going on?

"She rejected me." He said in a calm voice.

"WHAT?" I asked in surprise, "What do you mean, she rejected you? Did you confess to her?" I asked him in a loud voice. Some people turned around and stared at us, but I didn't care.

"She was angry at me. She said that I shouldn't have bullied Ruka. Nor should I have bullied you." He told me, "It was the first time she confronted me about this. I thought she never would. I knew I meant too much to her and that she didn't want to risk losing me. Yet she did. She told me that I needed to stop."

"She did?" I asked in disbelief. I thought Mikan was too afraid to lose Koko dude.

"I guess something must be worth it for her to do such a thing. You're worth it to her." He told me and threw back the pretty black box to me.

I looked at it, surprised and speechless.

"Her birthday is on the 1st of January." He told me, "Confess to her, won't you?" He said and walked away.

"Thanks!" I yelled and saw him wave his hand. He wasn't such a bad guy after all.

I sighed in happiness and ran to my car. Her birthday was just 3 days away and I needed as much time as possible to prepare her present. I dialed Luna.

"Hey, Natsume-kun." Luna said when she picked up.

"Hey, can I ask you a favor?"

* * *

At 8 pm, the 1st of January, I waited for Mikan to answer her phone.

"Hello." I finally heard Mikan's voice after being separated from her for so long, "Mikan Sakura speaking." I heard loud noises in the background. Was she throwing a party? I asked myself. _"Arg!"_ I thought in anger, _"Of course she had a party! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Alright, keep calm… Just follow the plan."_

"Hey, it's me, Natsume." I said on the phone, "Can we meet up for a little bit?" I asked her, "Are you free right now?" Of course she wasn't! She was throwing a party.

There was a small pause before I heard a quiet "Where are you right now?"

"I'll meet you at school." I told her and hung up. Now let's hope for the best.

* * *

On the 1st of January, the school was still closed because it was still considered a holiday. I stood on the roof top of Gakuen Alice, shacking in my black robe. I was waiting for her to arrive. You must be wondering how I got into the school on a holiday. You see, Hotaru-san wasn't just good at making weapons, she was also good at using those weapons to make a security guard open the school exclusively for us.

"This is Cash. Target has entered the school. Idiot, do you copy?" I heard from the walky talky. Hotaru-san was sitting in the bushes, watching.

"Idiot is in position." I answered, still shacking.

"This is Teddy. Target is moving up the stairs." I heard Luna's voice; she wanted to take part in this too.

"This is Blondie speaking. Target entering the roof top in 5…" Ruka was also helping in this mission, "4… 3… 2… 1…" Just then, Mikan came in. Aside from the happiness I felt for finally meeting Mikan again, nervousness crept up as well as she came closer to me.

"Hey." She said quietly. She looked so beautiful in her purple dress and a little shiny crown. Her beautiful auburn hair flying in the wind, her lips curving into a smile, her eyes looking at… me.

"Hi." I said, a little breathless, "Uhm, I need some help with the confession." I said and inhaled deeply.

This was it…

I didn't have to get nervous…

It didn't look that bad…

She wouldn't laugh that hard…

Alright…

I'm ready…

Breath…

1…

2…

3…

I took off the robe, revealing what I was wearing underneath…

Mikan's tutu…

"Wow…" Mikan said, sounding a little unsure. She paused a little, "You look great!" her eyes still gave her away…

"Does white make me look fat?" I asked her, trying to get rid of the awkwardness.

"Hihihi…" She laughed. I missed her smile so much… "Wait! You're still missing something." She took off her crown and put it on me, "Much better…"

"Listen…" I said, "I need help." I told her. Follow the script…

"Uhm… sure." Mikan said, "Do you need me to write you a rough draft?" She asked me.

"Uhm, no." I took out a few pieces of paper, "I've got it. Can you listen to this?" I cleared my throat and started to read:

Dear Mikan,

From the first time we met near your locker on the first day of the school year, you have enlightened my life with your smile. Your locker, which I helped to unlock, has been the key to my love. Through many hardships that we went through together, I realized that you aren't just the ideal girl for me, you are much more. Through those many times we fought and reconciled, I realized that I want to be with you no matter what comes our way. Through many times you cried and yelled, I realized that I want to protect you. Through those brief moments of happiness between us, I realized that you are the yolk to my egg, the icing to my cake, the seaweed to my sushi, the meatballs to my pasta, the dough to my pizza, the boiling water to my instant noodles and the heel to my Hyuga shoe. But most importantly, you're the Vanessa to my Ferb.

I love you, Mikan Sakura. So please go out with me.

I waited a moment…

Where were the fireworks?

"It's great, but don't forget to replace 'Mikan Sakura' with another name, k?" She told me. She looked a little uneasy, her eyes a little watery.

"What if I'm confessing to you?" I asked her, "Do I still have to replace the names?"

…

Silence

…

Long stares

…

Awkwardness

…

Was this a rejection?

…

"I'm sorry…"

I knew it… This was indeed a rejection… I failed… My first love… Ending bitterly on a roof top on a cold night with only a tutu to cover me… It was New Year, too… Now I'll remember this night every year…

…

"Can you read it again?"

WHAT! It took me a while to process what was going on before I started to fiddle with the paper. Mikan's face was a mixture of so many emotions. I could see confusion, surprise, shock, excitement, amusement and… happiness…

"Uhm, sure…" I said and the wind started blowing furiously. As I covered myself because of the cold, the papers flew away, "No!" I said and tried to reach for at least one, but caught nothing but air, "Uhm… the pages, they all blew away..." I said even though it was quiet obvious.

"It's alright. This is a good opportunity for you to rehearse this without the script. Come on, try to remember…" She said and stood there, waiting.

"Uhm… you see, I forgot the complicated version, so here it goes." I said and cleared my throat:

Dear Mikan,

I love you. Please go out with me, this time, for real.

"Sure. I'll be happy to." She said in a calm voice. I thought that she wasn't that into me until tears started to roll down her cheeks and she had to turn away from me in embarrassment, "There was dust in my eye." She said in denial.

"Where?" I played along and came closer to her before cupping her face in my hands and looking closely at her eyes. I don't know how long we stared at each other before, finally, our lips met. It wasn't a French kiss, but it sure set off some fireworks.

"Sorry, Idiot, Cash didn't have enough time to set the fireworks. Are we late?" I heard Blondie from the walky talky, "Idiot, do you copy?"

I didn't answer…

* * *

"So… uhm…" I started to talk after the kiss, "Can I take off the tutu yet?" Just a moment ago, I was shivering, but being with her made me feel warm. Still, the tutu was too embarrassing, I needed to change.

"Nope." She said and pulled out her phone. She pulled away from me and took a few pictures of me, "I need to send these to Misaki AND… you're wearing this to my party." She said and walked towards me, "Today is my birthday." She told me.

"I know." I said and smiled. I walked towards the dark corner of the roof top which was so dark that it was impossible to see a thing.

"Here." I heard a whisper as a small package landed on my hands. Luna has finally finished the present, "Just made it in time." She told me.

"Thanks." I told her before coming back to Mikan with an orange box, "Happy Birthday." I said and handed her the present.

"Thanks." She said and opened the box. Inside were a small stuffed bunny in a polka dotted bikini and a small stuffed tiger in striped shorts. Wait… Did Luna mix them up? "I think I was supposed to be the tiger." She told me.

"And I was supposed to be the bunny, Luna totally mixed them up!" I said, "I'll tell Luna to change it."

"Nah…" Mikan told me and shook her head, "This is good enough." She said and started to walk towards the exit, "Come on, I can't wait to show off my real boyfriend."

"Idiot, do you copy?" I heard from the walky talky. Mikan probably heard it too because she turned around and looked at me suspiciously.

"I needed some help." I confessed.

Mikan took my walky talky. "This is Target speaking. All personnel are invited to my party." She said in a serious voice.

"Yay!" I heard Luna shout, "I'm actually invited to THE Mikan Sakura's birthday! I'll remember this day for the rest of my life!"

"Me, too." I said quietly and followed Mikan to the exit.

* * *

A few days later, Christmas presents arrived from Koko. Well, not for me but for Ruka, Hotaru-san, Luna and Mikan.

Ruka got an elephant, which he totally adored and decided to forgive Koko for whatever happened in the past.

Hotaru-san got a check, though she withheld the amount. She forgave Koko, too.

Luna got a scholarship to stay at Gakuen Alice until she graduated next year. She was super excited. Mostly because she couldn't wait to start flirting with rich guys. The bullying stopped after Koko left as well.

Mikan, Koko's beloved, got a letter which allowed her to be friends with him (yes, allowed) and an invitation to visit him in the US, alone. Mikan was happy and even though I didn't like the idea of Mikan being alone with Koko, I was happy for her too.

I didn't mind not getting a present. Mikan was all I needed.

Tsubasa and Harada-san (I'm supposed to call her Misaki, now) came to visit afterwards. They denied being a couple, but admitted that they spent Christmas together, though, as they said, involuntarily.

A camera was found in Luna's teddy bear. That's how she knew that I didn't throw it away yet. The camera went to the trash can. The condoms that grandmother sent us stayed in the drawer in my room and were sometimes taken out for a 4 pm activity.

* * *

On a beautiful Friday afternoon, after the last day of 11th grade, I was sitting in Hyuga park, waiting…

"Natsume!" I heard from the left and turned around to look at the most magnificent sight of my life, my real girlfriend of 5 month. She was walking gracefully. On her bag hung a small tiger in stripped boxers and she was wearing white Hyuga Shoes size 35. On her middle finger was a pretty platinum ring with 4 diamonds arranged in paw-like shape.

"Hey, I said and stood up from the bench.

"You know, if you wanted to go on a date, we could've just gone here together. We do live together, you know?" Yep, we still lived in that small commoner house. It was, after all, our home now.

"Actually, I have something else I need to do." I told her and stood right in front of her. Before starting, I touched my inside pocket to make sure that it was there. I wasn't going to take it out yet. Mikan would freak out.

"Ok, what is it?" She asked me.

Alright, here I go!

This is gonna be easy…

Ask a question – Get an answer…

Breathe. 1, 2, 3…

"Mikan Sakura daughter of Yukihira Sakura, the love of my life, the light of my life, my life itself…" I tried to make sure that she had no idea what was coming until I said those 4 words. If she could figure it out before that, she won't give me time to finish.

"What is it already?" She asked, frustrated. Sometimes, Mikan was just a little stupid.

"Will you marry me?" I asked her as I kneeled down and took out Grandmother's ring, "Like, for real."

…

Mikan looked speechless.

"Oh, look at the time." She said and she looked at her watch.

"It's only 4 pm." I told her. Mikan walked around in a circle before she stopped and looked straight into my eyes.

"Look, it's not going to work out, ok?" She told me in a serious voice.

"We're rich, beautiful, smart and popular. What can possibly go wrong?" I asked her.

"Like everything?" She told me, "My family problems will just become a burden to you. I don't want to complicate your life." She told me.

"Your problems are my problems. Now that we're a couple, I think we should start sharing things. Besides, I'm ready to risk all that 'everything' that you're talking about to be happy with you. Grandmother, Aoi and everyone else are welcoming you into the Hyuga family. Please, just say yes." I told her, begging actually.

Mikan hesitated a little before exhaling.

"Fine." She told me and extended her hand.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." I said and slipped the ring on her ring finger, "I love you, Mikan Sakura." I told her and stood up.

"I gitchee gitchee goo you, too." She told me and walked away.

And I ran after her…

The End

Or So We Thought

* * *

Ok. So how did you like this story? Was it OK? I know that most of the time, characters were OOC, but I just wanted to see how Natsume would act, if behind all toughness was a teenage school girl (because in the original story, Natsume is too serious and tough, too adult-ish and I was too immature to let that slip). I wanted to see a brain behind Mikan's innocent personality, so my Mikan was a little bitter and most of the time, she was the victim, but as you can see from her words on chapter 20, she wasn't that innocent herself. I hope Ruka and Hotaru stuck to the originals (though Hotaru actually got jealous and stuff in here). I didn't include that many characters in this story, mostly because I can't manage too many characters (that's just too much for a lazy author like me), but also because some characters are going to appear in the sequel so stay tuned.

I want to thank everyone who read this fanfiction. Thank you for supporting me (or not), subscribing to this story (or not) and reviewing my story (or not). Thanks to everyone who criticized this story, I know it was (and might still be) very lame, but you guys didn't just read it, but also helped me change it for the better.

The sequel will focus on a new pair, but will revisit the original cast, Mikan and Natsume (now engaged), Hotaru and Ruka, and Misaki and Tsubasa.

So here's the summary for the sequel of Fake Romance.

_Unfortunate Engagement_

Anna thought that she was the happiest girl alive. She was pretty, smart, rich and loved by her two grandfathers. In a society where even her sister had to marry for business, Anna was fortunate to get engaged to the rich Kokoro Yome that she loved and loved her back. Or did he?


End file.
